


Attrition

by anaglyphics



Series: Fusion [1]
Category: Captain America (Movies), Marvel Cinematic Universe
Genre: Captain America: The First Avenger, F/M, Hydra (Marvel), Marvel Cinematic Universe - Freeform, Multi, World War II
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2016-06-05
Updated: 2018-01-24
Packaged: 2018-07-12 11:38:18
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 6
Words: 32,003
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7101667
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/anaglyphics/pseuds/anaglyphics
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Two years after twenty-year-old Lena Ezra and her family have been sent to the Auschwitz death camp, Lena is Selected to be a subject in the Nazi human experiments at Freiwalt. At Freiwalt, the infamous Nazi science division, HYDRA, forces countless Jews, political prisoners, homosexuals, and Romas to undergo excruciating procedures designed to create "the perfect weapon," the Nazi party's last hope at winning the World War II. </p><p>While there, Lena uncovers the fate of the camp and its prisoners as the Allied powers push further towards Germany. Desperate to save herself, Lena plots an escape route. With help from her five friends, and the mysterious, metal-armed American named James Barnes, she plans a camp-wide escape that she can only hope will succeed. Will she find her liberation? Or will she find death?</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Nejdou Jemný Do Té Dobré Noci

**August 15th, 1943**  
**Czechoslovakia**

At the crisp age of eighteen, Lena Ezra believed that she had left all of her childhood monsters in the past. All of the things that went bump in the night or plagued her sleep with nightmares were locked away and forgotten, banished to the dark from whence they manifested.

But now they were back.

It’s even more likely, she thought, that they had never even left. Perhaps her monsters just outgrew their skin, shedding and slithering out of it in exchange for a newer, sleeker, scarier one. Perhaps they just grew alongside with her throughout her life, silently watching and waiting for the right time to strike.

And today was that time.

+

Lena could barely make out her mother’s rushed speech over the sound of her pounding heartbeat. She swore she could hear the monsters banging about downstairs in the kitchen, hissing that she come out, come out wherever she was to play. She refrained from shuddering, and attempted to listen to her mother’s hushed, yet urgent, voice.

“...will be fine, children, as long as we remain calm and quiet,” Sonia Ezra finished with a look at her three children. She tried her best to keep the note of panic out of her voice, but Lena could easily pick up on it, as well as see it etched into the frown plastered on her pretty, weathered face. “They will never know that we are here.”

“Mama?” Giselle, the youngest of Sonia’s children, spoke up. She was only ten years old and utterly oblivious to the seriousness of the situation at hand. “Why are we hiding? Papa always said that it was just a matter of time before they found us.”

Lena took a sharp inhale of breath at Giselle’s words. To hear her younger sibling talk like that, so matter-of-factly, as if their capture were bound to happen made her blood run cold. How dare their father say such things! “Giselle Tzipora Ezra!” The younger girl flinched at the usage of her full name, her short, brown curls bouncing at the sudden movement. “Never say such a thing,” Lena whispered angrily. “If Papa were here right now, he’d-”

The sound of the creaking floorboards on the stairs cut her short. A whole new wave of fear cascaded through her veins, washing away the words that were on the tip of her tongue.

 _Come out and play, Lena_ , the monsters beckoned as they continued to climb higher and higher up the staircase. Lena bit down on her lip to keep in the whimper of fear that threatened to pass her lips. _We can have so much fun together…_

Sonia gave each of her children a frantic look. “Please,” she whispered. “Keep quiet, and away from the door.” She pushed her children further back into the tiny room, pressing them all into the far right-hand corner. Lena stood in front of her younger brother, Elias, gripping onto his tiny, twelve-year-old fingers while silently mouthing a prayer to God. Giselle stood behind Elias, wedged way back into the corner, holding onto his gray overcoat for comfort. Sonia stood in front of her three _děti,_ her arms spread wide on either side of her as if she could protect them from the entire world.

All was silent, save for the shallow sounds of breath that escaped from the Ezras’ mouths. Back here, in the cramped 4x4 sized room hidden behind the old bookcase in the guest room, the air was frigid, far, far away from the warmth of roaring fire in the sitting room. It was smart thinking of Sonia to prepare her children in layers in their warmest clothes; God knew that they would be needed if they were discovered.

The footsteps grew louder, keeping a steady and slow beat- a stark contrast to the uneven thumping of Lena’s heart. She could hear doors opening and closing, followed by hushed words too low for Lena to distinguish. After a few agonizing moments, a voice pierced through the air, low and guttural and hungry. _“Hier_ ,” it said in German. “Here. They must be in here. Check for hollow walls.” It finished barking out orders and snapped its fingers impatiently, a chorus of “ _jawohls”_ shortly proceeding.

A series of raps sounded off against the plaster of the walls. Lena could just imagine the monsters leaving their scuff and scratch marks against the light beige walls of the room, dirtying and marring the paint that her father had spent two nearly days working on. She could imagine the monsters leaving behind their stench of death on the bedsheets and curtains, forever marking this house as theirs. A pit of anger blossomed in Lena’s stomach.

 _Knock, knock, little one,_ the monsters hissed in Lena’s ear, louder than ever. She swallowed as she heard the footfalls grow louder against the hardwood floor, getting closer, closer, and closer to her family’s hiding place.

 _I know you’re in there_.

Knock. Knock. Knock. Knock. Knock.

Knock.

Knock.

“ _Herr_.”

Sonia pressed her back against Lena, urging her children against the wall and away from the door. A quick knock is tapped on the wall to confirm the monster’s findings. Lena squeezed her eyes shut, Elias joining her in silent prayer to God.

“ _Ne, ne,_ ” Sonia began to sob as the entrance to the small room widened. Pale morning light streamed in from the openings of the wall, illuminating the dust motes that floated freely around the tiny space. Lena wished that she was nothing more than a dust mote in this moment; to be small and insignificant and seemingly non-existent. Nearly impossible to capture. _“Ne mé děti.”_

 _We’ve found you, little one_ , the monsters roared as they broke their way through the wall, a meaty fist punching through the plaster. _Come out and play._

 

+

 

 **February 28th, 1945**  
**Poland**

 

The screaming had followed Lena as she awoke from her slumber. While it may have been her mother’s imploring cries that she had heard in her dream world, begging the Nazi policemen to spare her children, it was her own screams she heard in her ears now, pleading for the pain in her forearm to stop.

“... _Yisadal, veyiskadash, shmey raba,_ ” she whispered hoarsely beneath her breath, out of habit. _May His name be celebrated and sanctified._ Though Lena had given up her hope and faith in a just God days after that fateful night of her family’s capture two years ago, she found comfort in repeating the words; it transported her back to a time where she had her own bed. Her own home. Her own family.

“The subject is muttering nonsense, _Herr,”_ a voice noted to Lena’s right, writing furiously on his clipboard, copying the words Lena murmured phonetically. “Subject is delusional, yet responsive.”

“Heart rate has decreased significantly,” another commented to her left. The pressure of a hand Lena didn’t even realize was on her was lifted from her wrist. “Injecting methamphetamines momentarily.”

Lena ignored the commentary and attempted to focus on her surroundings. Once she worked past the haziness in her vision and the blinding white lights above her, she saw that she still lay in her bloodied standard uniform of striped pajamas and clogs on the same uncomfortable and unsanitary operating table. For the umpteenth time this week, Lena faintly wondered how many people had died before her on this very table, and if whether or not she would be the next. She also wondered how many people would die on this exact table after her.

A certain heaviness flowed throughout Lena’s body, pushing and pulling her back from the shores of consciousness. Images from past and present rushed back and forth in front of her: the flurry of surgeons in grey HYDRA issued scrubs soon gave way to the sweeping smokestacks of Auschwitz and back, the images swirling and mixing together into a dizzying blur. She closed her eyes, moving her head lightly from side to side to clear it of the clutter.

“Amira,” a voice called out to her. Rarely anyone used her given name; she had always preferred her middle name, Magdalene, further shortening it to Lena, a “cool” and “stylish” nickname, according to her friends in Czechoslovakia. There was only one person called her by her first name.

“Papa,” Lena whispered. It had been so long since she’s heard his voice, deep and rich as coffee. Four long years. How she wished to see him once more! _“Kde jsi?” Where are you?_ Lena moved her eyes around frantically, craning her neck to try and spot her father’s bearded face in the sea of scientists before her. The heavy, leaden feeling weighed her down, leaving her feeling weaker than she already was, and she ceased her search after only a few seconds.

“Waiting for you, my little _princezna_ ,” he responded. His voice sounded near and far at the same time; recognizable, but not. It was a strange thing, Lena pondered, that someone could sound so familiar, yet foreign. “I have been watching over you and Elias and Giselle and Mama all these years.” Tears began to cloud Lena’s vision at the mention of her remaining family. It had been months since she had last seen Giselle and Mama, and two years since she had seen Elias. She could only hope that the three of them were still alive.

 _“Proč jsi nás opustil?” Why did you leave us?_ Lena’s throat closed around the words, nearly choking on them before she had spoken them. To think of her father, Mendel Ezra, meant pain. While he had been doing what he thought was best for the family at the time of his death, Lena still could not forgive him for what he had done.

When Lena heard Mendel’s voice again, it was softer, as if he were trying to console her. He understood her grief. Losing a father and then the rest of your family, all within the span of a single year, was enough to damage a person for a lifetime- a lifetime that Lena still had yet to experience and conquer. “ _Princezna_ ,” he whispered. Lena felt a cool rush of air brush through her short and uneven brown hair in a gentle manner, a movement that strongly reminded her of childhood days where Mendel would comb his fingers through her hair while they read bedtime stories together. The tears threatened to spill over her eyes at the memory.

Mendel’s voice continued to speak. _“Nikdy jsem tě opustil._ I have always been with you, just as you have always been with me.”

 _“Chci být s tebou,”_ Lena murmured. _I want to be with you._ All of the anger that Lena still felt towards her father’s previous actions melted away, leaving behind only the sorrow and longing she felt.

Her father’s voice took on an even softer tone. _“Ne, princezna,_ ” he whispered, voice full of regret. “I wish I could be with you. But you can’t give up. Not just yet.” Another current of air caressed Lena’s arm, causing Lena to close her eyes once more. From behind her lids, she could see her father’s worn yet handsome face, beard and all. His wise, brown eyes looked down at her in a mixture of love and despair. “You still have so much left to give to the world, Amira.”

 _“Herr,_ we’re losing the subject!” Lena heard a voice shout out distantly, the same voice that spoke from her left. “Prepare the methamphetamines for injection!”

Lena felt a pinch on her right leg as the scientists jabbed her with a needle once more. The drowsiness that she had fought off earlier was reaching out for her once more, settling over her like a soft blanket. She could feel herself slipping back down into a state of unconsciousness, and she was grateful. There would be no HYDRA monsters poking and prodding at her body, inserting unknown and lethal substances into her bloodstream, no worrying about whether or not she would survive, no worrying about whether or not she would become a monster herself. Just blissful ignorance.

Mendel’s face appeared once more behind her eyelids, insistent. “You have been given an extraordinary gift, Amira Magdalene, one that can revolutionize humanity,” he whispered fervently. “These men know that. But do you? Do you understand the gift that has been bestowed upon you? The power that you hold within your very being? The dangers that can follow, if in the wrong hands?”

Lena did not answer. She did not _want_ to answer. To think of her being anything other than the normal, twenty-year-old woman that she was made the backs of her eyes prickle with tears. She was so tired of crying.

 _“Nejdou jemný do té dobré noci…,”_ Mendel murmured. Lena could see the image of her father slowly floating and fading away from her. _“Vztek proti umírání světla…”_

 

He was gone. Lena felt equal emotions of relief and sorrow. That was the first contact she had had with anyone other than HYDRA workers in days. The absence of the voice that whispered in her ear was noticeable, and Lena felt more alone than she had before the appearance of her father's apparition.

 

With her thoughts focused on the loss of her “ghost,” she only faintly registered the fact that her heart was slowly stuttering to a stop- a relief that Lena had been begging for, ever since leaving Auschwitz one month ago. Without Giselle and Mama beside her at night in her bunk, and without the comfort of knowing that Elias was just three Lagers over with the men, the burden of living was too much.

 

The final words from Mendel stuck with her: _“Nejdou jemný do té dobré noci… Vztek proti umírání světla…” Do not go gentle into that good night… Rage against the dying light…_

  
She took a final breath.


	2. Awakening

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Two years after twenty-year-old Lena Ezra and her family have been sent to the Auschwitz death camp, Lena is Selected to be a subject in the Nazi human experiments at Freiwalt. At Freiwalt, the infamous Nazi science division, HYDRA, forces countless Jews, political prisoners, homosexuals, and Romas to undergo excruciating procedures designed to create "the perfect soldier," the Nazi party's last hope at winning the World War II. 
> 
> While there, Lena uncovers the fate of the camp and its prisoners as the Allied powers push further towards Germany. Desperate to save herself for the sake of her family, Lena plots an escape route. With help from her five, new found friends, and the mysterious, metal-armed American named James Barnes, she plans a camp-wide escape that she can only hope will succeed. Will she find her liberation? Or will she find death?

“Get up, _köter,_ ” a HYDRA agent snarled, dumping a pail of ice cold water onto Lena’s frail body. Lena woke with a start, letting out a hoarse yelp at the feel of the frigid water on her pale skin. “You’ve rested enough. You’re wanted for testing again- and as of now, the _Herr_ is quite impatient with you,” he said with a cruel smirk. “It is best to not keep him waiting.”

 

Lena had wanted to made the snide remark that two hours of sleep was not nearly enough rest, especially when she had gone nearly four days without it prior, but she chose to keep her comments to herself. She had learned her lesson a long time ago that it was best to not provoke the officers if you could help it- and Lena sure as hell did not want to upset this big, burly hulk of a man that had been sent to retrieve her.

 

Instead, she composed herself, putting on the cold, hard mask of indifference she had learned to perfect back in Auschwitz. The Nazi guards there preyed off of not only the physically weak, but the emotionally vulnerable. To show emotion in a place such as this was to condemn yourself to torture.

 

Lena moved off the bed after a few seconds, shivering as her bare feet grazed the cold stone floor. She retrieved her clogs that had been placed at the foot of the bed, and quickly slipped them on. The HYDRA agent turned his back on her, and led the way out of the small holding cell they had placed her in. For the past week, she had been poked and prodded at by demanding scientists, urging her to do ‘it’. What ‘it’ was, Lena had no clue; she just knew that if she didn’t do ‘it’ sooner or later, the consequences would be unpleasant.

 

The HYDRA agent led the drenched and shivering girl down a dark and narrow hallway, one that she had no recollection of ever travelling down before. Any time that she had moved from room to room in Lager IV, she was either unconscious or delirious from amphetamines and whatever else that had been injected into her body.

 

They reached the entrance to their destination a few moments later, and the agent reached into his pocket to retrieve his clearance card. Once swiped, the door to the room slid to the side, and Lena was pushed inside, the HYDRA agent following close behind her.

 

The room hadn’t changed much since the last time she saw it nearly two hours ago. The only differences included the rearrangement of some sitting chairs, and the placement of a large, wheeling monitor in the corner of the room. The same flurry of HYDRA scientists rushed about the large room, prepping themselves yet again for Subject 3-193. Dingy light streamed down from the fluorescents hanging overhead, the trays lined with bloody scalpels and used needles glinting slightly. The same operating table that she had been strapped down to for the past few days still laid at the center of the room, just as dirty and unsanitary looking as it had during her first experiment eight days ago- when she had nearly lost her life.

 

Lena was led to the table and ordered to lie down. From there, she was strapped down at the shoulders, waist, and ankles, her movement completely restricted. She didn’t flinch, nor offer any resistance; she didn’t feel the icy grips of anxiety clasp around the edges of her chest like it had the first time. This was just a part of the procedure; this was just how things had to be.

 

She had gone through the procedure plenty of times before; first came the straps, then the threats and torture, followed by the talk of ‘it’ and the demands for her to do ‘it,’ ending with more threats and torture. The cycle would repeat itself, over and over, until she eventually would pass out from the pain and exhaustion. When Lena passed out, (which happened more often than not), she would only be given a few minutes of rest. (On the days that HYDRA was feeling particularly generous, she would be given a few hours of sleep) Then, the whole pattern would repeat itself again, a sempiternal loop of suffering, until she would finally do ‘it’.

 

So far, Lena hadn’t been very successful in achieving that.

 

“Subject 3-193,” a voice spoke from behind Lena. The man stepped out from behind her and into the light, giving her a sardonic smile. Lena squeezed her hands into fists to restrain her urge to slap that smile off of his smug face. “Are you feeling better, now that you’ve rested and received a shower?” He asked, motioning to her damp clothing.

 

Lena held her tongue yet again, and took in the appearance of the _Herr,_ as everyone seemed to address him. He seemed to fit the description of all of the evil scientists she had read about in mystery novels when she was younger; tall, thin, and old with a harsh, mustached face and wire framed glasses. When he spoke, he spoke slowly and coolly, as if he were speaking to a misunderstanding juvenile. Of all the things to hate about this man and what he had done to her, Lena hated that the most. She had always hated being talked down to.

 

The _Herr_ chuckled and shook his head, despite Lena’s cold, blank stare. He had expected this lack of communication from 3-193. Of all the subjects he’s worked on these past two years at Freiwalt, she was one of the quietest subjects he’s had to date- which both relieved and worried him. While he didn’t have to worry about her specifically struggling against their experiments, he knew just how dangerous silent people could be.

 

“I do so hope that during your rest you’ve thought about the task at hand for you to accomplish,” he continued on, taking a seat in the swivel chair next to Lena’s table. Lena shivered slightly, and she knew it was not just from her wet uniform. “You’ve made no progress throughout the past few days we’ve been meeting. I’m afraid that if there’s no improvement from you in this session, we’ll have to switch over to Plan B, which includes some very… uncivil procedures.”

 

Lena almost let out a snort. Uncivil? As if anything done to her by these people was anything remotely close to the definition of civil.

 

“Now, enough small talk,” he said as he pushed away from the table Lena lay on. He directed himself towards a circuit board located directly across from her, and flashed her a cruel smile. “Let us see what you can do.”

 

+

 

After six electric shocks at 70 milliamperes each, the only progress that had been made was further weakening Lena’s strength and diminishing the _Herr’s_ patience with aforementioned person. He had been gracious in giving the subject a week to harness her given powers, (an extra four days than his other subjects!). But what good had it done? In giving that extra time to this subject, he had just ended up agitated, angry, and answerless.

 

There would be no more. Time, like his patience, had run out.

 

“I must say, I am rather disappointed in you, 3-193,” the _Herr_ said, standing up from his seat and looking at Lena. Her wet clothing and body had only worsened the effects of the shocks, making her breathing haggard and labored, her flesh sweaty and ashen. Lena could feel herself teetering at the edge of consciousness, hanging on by just a thread. She willed herself to let go, to fall over the border and surrender to sleep, but the thread yanked her back into reality, back to the _Herr’s_ words.

 

“I had thought that you were smart enough- no, _gifted_ enough, to lock into it. To use the abilities that we’ve given you. I just thought that you needed time to understand and to see it.” He sighed and shook his head, looking rather resigned- but the glint in his metallic blue eyes suggested otherwise.

 

“I guess that even the best of us are wrong sometimes.” Another sigh. “I am truly sorry that it had to come to this,” he said, feigning remorse.

 

He motioned for the HYDRA agent standing guard at the door- the man who had woken Lena earlier. “The _bildschirm_ , please.” The man nodded, and moved to the opposite side of the room where the large monitor rested. He wheeled the screen to the _Herr_ , who further adjusted it to stand directly in front of Lena.

 

Lena opened her eyes at the sound of the monitor’s squeaky wheels rolling towards her. Too tired to keep up her stoic expression, a look of confusion took over her features. A _monitor_ was their idea of an uncivil repercussion?

 

“The _fernbedienung,_ ” he asked the HYDRA officer, extending his right hand out. The HYDRA agent slipped a small remote into the outstretched hand before him, and was dismissed with a final flick of the _Herr’s_ hand.

 

The _Herr_ turned his full attention back to Lena, steely blue on chocolate brown. “I told you that Plan B would include unpleasant methodologies. Please understand that doing something such as this hurts my very being, and that I do so with the utmost disgust and resignation.”

 

On the surface, the _Herr_ could have fooled Lena. The corners of his mouth were turned down in a regretful grimace, his eyebrows creased and cinched together in pity. But one look at his eyes told her everything that she needed to know: that he was insincere in every word that had just come out of his mouth, and that he would enjoy watching her writhe in pain at whatever he had in store for the twenty-year-old woman.

 

The _Herr_ pushed at a button on the remote, making the screen flicker to life. A grainy, black and white image of a landscape came through the static- faint, yet distinguishable. Long rows of buildings lined the left and right side of the screen, a massive walkway and courtyard filled with people splitting the distance in between them. At the entrance to the courtyard stood a massive metal gate with an inscription lined across the top: ‘ _Arbeit macht frei’._

 

Lena gaped at the image. She knew that inscription. Those were the exact same words that lined the gate at-

 

“Auschwitz,” she whispered, half to herself. An unpleasant feeling nestled in the pit of her stomach, washing away any fatigue that previously weighed her down.

 

“ _Wunderbar,_ ” the _Herr_ exclaimed. “You still remember. Do you also remember who is currently staying at Auschwitz?”

 

A cold smile twisted the scientist’s features as the image flickered out on the screen, replaced with yet another grainy picture- this time, of a group of women and young children inside of what appeared to be a factory.

 

 _“Nein,”_ she moaned, the pit of dread in her stomach spreading outwards to the rest of her body. _“Nein, nein, nein!”_ The images on the screen shifted, the faces moving and pivoting about in real time. Lena scanned the faces, searching for the two familiar faces she longed to see. One of the figures turned their head, giving Lena the confirmation to what she already knew in her heart.

 

Mama. And to her right, two people over-

 

Giselle.

 

Lena began to struggle with all her might against the restraints tying her down. She wanted- _needed_ \- to get closer, to see the family that she had missing and been yearning for for weeks on end. She needed to know that they were alive and well, that they were as safe as they could possibly be. She needed to know they were surviving without her there.

 

“It’s interesting just the lengths that someone would go to for their _familie_ ,” the _Herr_ mused, clearly enjoying Lena’s reaction. “Lots of people claim that they would do anything for their _familie_ ; steal for them, kill for them, die for them. But hardly any of them truly _mean_ it.” He cocked his head at Lena, a challenge in his eyes. “What does you family mean to _you,_ 3-193? Are they-” he pointed to the screen, at Mama and Giselle- “worth it? Are they worth risking your life for?”

 

Lena’s eyes flashed from the screen to the _Herr_ , her chocolate brown eyes hardening. _“Sie sind es wert alles,”_ she answered with unwavering resolution, staring directly into the _Herr’s_ icy blue eyes. There was nothing that she wouldn’t do for her family, nothing that she wouldn’t sacrifice for Mama, Giselle, or Elias.

 

_They are worth everything._

 

And that was exactly how the _Herr_ was expecting her to answer. The female experimentees were always sentimental- the easiest, the weakest ones to subject.

 

“If they are worth everything,” he began, taking a step closer towards Lena, “and you will do everything to your ability just for them, then you will do this. You will use your powers, and you will do it today. There is no more room for failure.” He sighed, the flicker of malevolence returning to his eyes. “Should you fail, well... It is unfortunate to say that your family will suffer the consequences with you.” He took a glance back at the screen, a wicked smile gracing his face. “And I’m so sure that you wouldn’t want your tiny _Giselle_ to go through that.”

 

A surge of rage pulsed through Lena’s veins. To hear this creature uttering her sister’s name ignited something within her, hot and fiery and insatiable. What right did he have to speak, tarnish and destroy, such a pure and sacred name, just as he had done to countless others?

 

Lena held onto this anger, letting it fuel and push her as the _Herr_ prepared to repeat the cycle. She channeled her vexation into trying to find a way to do ‘it’- to use her special given ‘powers.’ But it was hard for Lena to figure out how to appease their demands, when she didn’t even know what it was they _wanted_ her to do. What was her power supposed to be? What was she supposed to do with it?

 

By the time the _Herr_ began questioning Lena again, prodding at her to let go and unleash her power, Lena still had no idea how to approach the problem. She didn’t know how to tap into this ability of hers, how to open herself up to it. How did she even know that it was there within her, that the experiment _worked_ on her?

 

After a few more unsuccessful tries, (and a few more electric shocks), the _Herr_ sighed. “You simply are not cooperating. I’ve been offering my help and assistance, but you simply are not listening.” He shook his head, motioning for the HYDRA agent once more. “Perhaps this will act as an incentive.”

 

The agent handed the _Herr_ a black telephone. He began dialing on the number pad, placing the handset up to his ear once finished. Within a few seconds, someone answered the call.

 

“Ah, _guten nachmittag,”_ he greeted the mystery person. “I wish I could say that it was the same for me.” A sigh. “Tell Roth to move into position, and to wait there. I’ll call back within the next fifteen minutes with further instructions.”

 

He hung up without another word, placing the handset back into the cradle. The man redirected his attention to the monitor that he had left in position in front of Lena.

 

Lena followed his eyes, and watched the screen. A Nazi officer with a HYDRA patch stamped on his left arm snaked his way into the image, coming to a stop at the bottom left hand corner.

 

He was dangerously close to Sonia and Giselle.

 

Lena’s mouth fell open, a silent prayer on her lips.

 

 _Prosím, ne moje rodina_ , her heart whispered.

 

“All it takes,” the _Herr_ began, “is for you to try. I can make the call, and prevent any of this from happening.”

 

Lena’s mouth opened and closed, helpless. Her brain scrambled around, trying to find anything, _anything,_ that would be useful or worth trying.

 

“Hm,” the _Herr_ hummed beneath his breath at Lena’s lack of response. “I see. Well. You leave me no choice.”

 

The scientist reached for the phone, picking the handset up and pressing it to his ear. He began to dial.

 

“ _Nein!”_ Lena cried, struggling once more against the straps, her breathing coming out in short gasps. _“Ich kann es tun! Ich kann es tun!”_ _I can do it, I can do it!_

 

But the _Herr_ was no longer listening; he was instead listening to the sounds of the line ringing, waiting for the other side to pick up.

 

Lena’s heart was hammering double time in her chest, beating sporadically against her sternum. _If only I could get out of these straps,_ she thought desperately. _If only I was with them right now…_

 

“ _Hallo wieder,”_ the _Herr_ greeted again. “You can tell Roth that-”

 

 _“Nein!”_ Lena pleaded. She glanced back at the screen, training her eyes on the officer at the corner. _If only I were_ **_there_ ** _with them_ , she thought. _I wish I were there…_

 

Lena closed her eyes in an attempt to keep her tears in. She imagined being far away from this room, far away from these restraints, far away from Freiwalt, and far away from the ugliness and horrors and tragedy that she had been subjected to daily. She imagined being there, in the factory with her sister and mother, being there to protect them. She imagined being with them, holding them close to her, and never letting go.

 

When Lena opened her eyes again, she was astonished at what she saw.

 

She was standing.

 

Outside of the restraints.

 

Ten feet away from the bed.

 

A shocked gasp escaped from her mouth, conveying her amazement and shock. Was _this_ her power that they had been itching for her to discover and use? Had they known that _this_ was what was had happen to her, that she had been given the ability to move across space in an instant?

 

The bystanding HYDRA agents and scientists stared at her, just as shocked as she was. Though they had seen many subjects do the most unnatural and unimaginable things, they would never cease to be amazed whenever they saw a new subject display their powers. This included even the _Herr,_ who was still on the phone, watching Lena with a certain glee in his eyes. Though it had taken her nearly a week to uncover her powers, it had been well worth it.

 

She would be unstoppable.

  
“Dismiss that order, _offizier,_ ” the _Herr_ said into the handset. “Tell Roth to stand down.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you for reading, I hope you enjoyed it! Here are a few more notes that I wanted to make:
> 
> 1\. Bucky will FINALLY make an appearance during the next chapter. I apologize for it taking so long to get him into the story, but good things come to those who wait, right?
> 
> 2\. This is just for future reference, but I know in the MCU, Bucky was born in 1917, which would make him about 28 in this series. For all intents and purposes, I am using his year of birth from the comics, which is 1925- making him about 20 in this series. I can explain the age change later on in the series, if you guys would like me to/are interested in knowing.
> 
> 3\. Not necessarily a note, but I just wanted to apologize for any mistakes you may have noticed in my writing. It's finals week, and I haven't had much time to edit/proofread, but I'm pretty happy with how this chapter turned out! If you notice any glaring mistakes, please leave them in the comments or message me and I will fix it as fast as I can!
> 
> I think that's it! Again, thanks for reading, and please feel free to leave critique and questions in the comments, or direct them to my Tumblr! (URL: anaglyphics.tumblr.com) I'm also interested in hearing any suggestions that you may have for scenes later on in the story, so don't feel scared to message them to me!


	3. Revelations

Time was immeasurable to Lena. She had no clue what day of the week it was, what hour of the day it was, or how long she had been in Lager IV. All she knew was the periodic pangs of thirst and hunger that reverberated throughout her body, and the feeling that she was going to die.

 

She was back in her cramped holding cell, resting after passing out for what seemed to be the billionth time since she had been taken in for experimentation. Ever since they had discovered Lena’s powers, she had gone through days of rigorous testing to see the limits of her abilities. They would make her go for hours at a time without a break, telling her to see if she could move here or there, back and forth. It was exhausting, both physically and mentally, and frequently left Lena feeling fractured and broken.

 

The same HYDRA agent who had led Lena down to the experiment room the day that she had “moved”- Lena couldn’t find a word that could properly describe her ability- barged into the room, startling Lena awake from her slumber. There was no knocking, no privacy, in a place like Freiwalt.

 

“Get moving, 3-193,” the officer grumbled, moving towards the bed. Lena flung herself upward in the bed, fearful that the agent was carrying yet another bucket of water to throw on her. She relaxed slightly at the sight of his empty hands, but not completely, as she knew that they would not send for her unless she was needed for more testing.

 

“You’re expected for breakfast and roll call this morning,” the officer reported, draining away the dread that had built up in Lena’s chest. “Best not be late.”

 

Lena looked at the officer, dumbfounded. Was this some sort of sick joke that HYDRA wanted to play on her, to get her hopes up and crush them when they took her back for further testing? She was skeptical of the man’s words, but didn’t let it show. Instead, she reached for her clogs beneath the bed and prepared herself for disappointment.

 

She was surprised when the man took a left out of the door instead of a right; that usually was the way to the experiment room. The pair trekked the narrow hallway, passing small windows as they walked. Lena glanced out at the camp in front of her, taking in its ramshackled and run-down appearance. Daylight was slowly but surely on its way, lagging in the frigid March air, the sky already a dim swirl of orange and pink. In the distance, a good couple yards away, she spotted Lager III, its chimney already puffing out clouds of smoke. Lena felt sick to her stomach at the sight, and she pondered how many people had been fed to the fire during her stay in Lager IV.

 

The man stopped outside of a door, taking out his clearance card and swiping it through a slot on a panel next to the exit. The door slide to the right to reveal dirt path that Lena had taken so many days ago from her barrack in Lager I. The HYDRA man roughly pushed her out of the door and onto the path, steering her towards the mess hall.

It was a quiet walk over to their destination; the officer did not say anything to strike up a conversation, and neither did Lena. Instead, she looked out towards the mountains in the distance, and wondered of her family.

 

There wasn’t a single moment in the waking hours that passed where she wasn’t thinking about her family. She found herself wondering of her younger brother, Elias, the most; With his dirty blonde hair and sea green eyes, he didn’t look anything like the rest of the dark-haired, dark-eyed Ezra family. And if that wasn’t the only thing that set him apart from the family, he was the only male left in the family. While Giselle and Lena had Mama, Elias had no one, at least not since Papa had died nearly three years ago. Now, he was all by himself, in a different part of Auschwitz with no family and no familiar faces. Lena often wished that she could be there for little Eli, as she fondly called him when they were younger, but instead, she was stuck here- thousands of miles away from him and Auschwitz.

 

But something in Lena had changed ever since she had seen the video footage of her sister and mother in Auschwitz; she had always said to herself that she would locate them should they ever be separated, but that thought had always been pushed to the back of her mind ever since she arrived at Freiwalt. Seeing Giselle and Mama’s faces, even if it was for only a fraction of a second, had strengthened her resolve to find and protect them. She would find a way back to her Giselle and Mama- even Elias!- somehow, someway, someday. She would make them a family once more.

 

She just had to hope that she could make it out of Freiwalt first.

 

+

 

The HYDRA officer and Lena finally made it to the mess hall ten minutes later. The smell of the camp’s “coffee” wafted over to Lena before she even entered the small building, filling her nostrils. She had never been more grateful to smell such an awful smell; it was so much better than the scent of blood that permeated the experimentation room.

 

It appeared that they had made it just in time for the start of breakfast, as prisoners had already began to crowd in front of the serving table. All of the heads in the room whipped around as the door opened, first taking in the HYDRA officer in his black uniform, and then the tall, bone-thin girl that stood behind him.

 

The HYDRA man stalked off, heading towards yet another door at the opposite end of the mess hall that would take him to the officer’s break room. Clearly, he was finished dealing with Lena for today. Lena looked around the room for a certain black-haired girl from barrack 3, hoping that she wasn’t taken in for testing. It had already been so long since Lena had last seen her friend, and she didn’t want to have to wait any longer.

 

Luckily, Lena didn’t have to wait long before her friend, Rebekah, broke away from the long food line, her hunger quickly forgotten as she laid eyes on Lena. Rebekah couldn’t believe her eyes.

 

“Lena!” She shouted, running over to her friend to crush her in a bearhug. “You’re alive, you’re alive,” she breathed into Lena’s hair, taking in the scent of sweat and must that covered her friend. Rebekah had spent days worrying about Lena, praying that she would be alright.

 

Lena returned the hug, crushing her friend to her body. She had missed her dearly, and wondered if Rebekah had been selected herself for experimentation while Lena stayed in Lager IV. Though Rebekah had already been experimented on before, HYDRA was always picking and pulling people at random to “improve and enhance” upon.

 

“You were gone for twelve days,” Rebekah whispered, her worry and relief shining through her voice. “We all thought that you were dead.” Her throat closed around the last word as she bit back a sob. Everyone who had ever been called in for their first experimentation was back within a week, and when Lena had not returned to the barrack by the end of the seventh day, Rebekah had feared the worst for her friend. Lena was the only thing keeping her grounded in this God forsaken place. Without Lena, Rebekah had little to live for.

 

The news that she had been gone for that short of a time surprised Lena; it had seemed so much longer than just a mere twelve sunrises and sunsets. None of the experimentees were permitted to leave Lager IV during the research period, which was odd to her, since back in Auschwitz even people who had died had to make roll before being wheeled off to the crematorium. Without her attending roll, there was no way for her friends to know if she was okay. Lena could’ve died, and none of them would have ever known.

  
Lena hated that almost as much as she hated being talked down to. She hated not knowing what happened to the people that she cared for, and not knowing if they were dead or alive. She could only imagine the frustration and pain that Rebekah had gone through in the past fortnight at not knowing the status of her best friend’s well-being. Lena squeezed her friend’s small, thin body against her a little harder at the thought of Rebekah staying up late worrying.

 

“They could never kill me. I’m practically immortal now, with all of the life-preserving substances they injected in me,” Lena joked, wanting to make her friend laugh and remove the heaviness of the conversation. She was never comfortable with serious topics.

 

Rebekah pulled away from her friend with a roll of her eyes and a teasing shake of her head. It was just like Lena to make light of her situation, and it was reassuring to Rebekah to see that HYDRA had not taken away the spark within her friend.

 

“So,” Rebekah started, giving her friend a slight smile. She still couldn’t believe that her friend was back by her side after nearly two weeks. “Breakfast?”

 

Lena nodded and pulled her friend to the back of the line, which had grown slightly longer during the pair’s reunion. Rebekah began to fill Lena in on what she had missed in her twelve days of absence, telling her stories of the other girls in their barrack, (“Frieda was taken in for another experimentation yesterday, poor girl!”), and of her long, boring hours in the sorting room, (“Even when there are barely any incoming trains anymore, there is still so much to go through!”), until she finally worked up enough nerve to ask the question that had been on her mind since the moment she saw Lena.

 

“What bone has the dog dragged in?” Even though she was speaking in the code language developed by the prisoners themselves, she kept her voice at a hushed whisper to ensure that no _blockaltestes_ would overhear them. To talk of the procedures done to them was unacceptable, and if found out, they would both be severely punished.

 

Lena thought of how to explain her newfound ability. She didn’t even know how to explain it to herself, and wasn’t even sure if she wanted to. She didn’t want this power to redefine her, or to change the way that people saw her. No strange, superhuman ability could ever change the fact that she was still _Lena_ , and she was unsure if people- even Rebekah, her dearest friend- would understand that. The HYDRA scientists surely didn’t understand that concept.

 

“I can… move,” she said lamely, scooting up a bit further in line. “But it’s as if I’m not even moving. I just... think of where I want to go, and in a blink of an eye, I’m there.”

 

“Hmm,” Rebekah hummed, clearly intrigued. While she hated the ethics of the experiments with a passion, she couldn’t clamp down her interest in science- especially genetics. Before the camps, she was in the process of earning a degree in genetics to help develop a cure for birth defects. “Fascinating. I must say, HYDRA is becoming much more creative with their serums. It’s a shame they couldn’t be more creative when they experimented with me,” she joked. “Your power is the bee’s knees.”

 

During her time in Lager IV, Rebekah had been altered to give her the power to manipulate and control air currents. She could create anything from a slight, summer breeze to a howling tornado, all with the flick of her wrist. She could even block a person’s airflow. That didn’t sound like such a sorry ability to Lena.

 

“Yeah, HYDRA seems to think so too,” Lena muttered, thinking back to the past few days after the unsheathing of her power. Though the scientists had conducted hours upon hours of research and experiments on her, Lena had been so exhausted and malnourished during those times that she hardly remembered any of it- just low murmurs of the strange word ‘teleportation’, and feeling like she had just ran a thousand miles.

 

Lena turned back to Rebekah, who was looking ahead in front of them at the line. The pair still had a long way to go before they reached the bread lined trays, and Lena could only hope that the bread would not run out- she was beyond starving. “Do you ever wonder why they experiment on us? About why we’re even here in the first place?”

 

“Of course,” Rebekah said, her hazel eyes flicking back to Lena. “I don’t think that there’s a single person here who hasn’t.”

 

“Aren’t you worried at all? Surely they don’t just intend to use us for experiments. If that was the case, they would’ve killed some of us by now. They would’ve killed _you_ by now.”

 

When the pair first arrived in Freiwalt three months ago, Rebekah had been one of the first people from their freight car to be selected for experimentation. She had been gone for only five days, and had only been called back for further research three times times- instances that were over two months ago, and lasted no longer than a day each. If they were finished with experimenting on her and had moved onto other “projects,” why was HYDRA still keeping her around?

 

The scientist within Rebekah came to life. “You know how HYDRA likes to flex their big brains; they want to be able to make connections between their work-in-progresses and build off of their previous successes to create _hybrids,_ ” she stated beneath her breath, keeping an eye out for the _blockaltestes_ . “Hybrids is the key word here, Lena. They’re keeping us around as living, breathing storage cases for their precious serum formulas so that if they ever need to replicate it to reuse on previously experimented people, they don’t need to look it up in their official “Recipe Book For Evil Scientists,” where it could easily be stolen. They can just take a strand of our DNA and replicate the serum that caused the genetic mutations in our bodies through that.” She paused. “Or at least that’s what _I_ would’ve done in their shoes. Not that I’m making any suggestions for them.”

 

“But then what happens when they finally get their perfect ‘hybrid’?” Lena questioned. “Then they’ll have all of those formulas for serums inside of one person. You’ll _really_ be killed then.”

 

“And when that happens, I will be begging on my hands and knees for a quick death.” Rebekah said only half-jokingly. Like Lena, she had a bad habit of making jokes at inappropriate times about rather serious topics, but this time, she was more serious than anything. If she knew that she was going to be executed, she would be begging for mercy to anyone that would listen so that her life could be spared. She shook her seared-short, black hair. There was no point in thinking of any of that now. “Why the sudden interest in why we’re in this rotten place?”

 

“In my constant states of delirium, my mind had time to wander and dream lucidly,” Lena said, as they finally reached the table holding the bread and margarine. She reached for a piece of bread, and began to pour her coffee as she spoke. “It hit me one day during experimentation that Freiwalt wasn’t like Auschwitz was. There’s hardly any selections, other than the ones made to decide who’s being experimented on. Have you noticed that?”

 

“I’ve been too busy focusing on surviving to notice, Lena,” Rebekah replied in a grave tone, spreading margarine onto her bread with her finger. HYDRA didn’t trust the prisoners enough to give them a knife to use during meal times. “Besides, less selections means a better chance at survival- for all of us.” She looked up at her friend, and motioned towards their regular table near the back left corner of the mess hall, signaling the end of their conversation.

 

 _The chances of survival in place like this are always the same_ , Lena thought as Rebekah led her to their table. _Slim to none._ She knew that fewer selections didn’t indicate a higher chance at survival; it just meant that there was another unseeable threat out there in the camp that HYDRA had planned for them. She knew that their end goal- _Hitler’s_ end goal- was to see the extermination of all who did not fit his image of “the perfect race,” but just how they planned to do that in Freiwalt remained a mystery to Lena- a mystery that she planned to soon uncover.

 

+

 

"There was a new train that came in early this morning," Rebekah announced a few moments after they reached their table. The Freiwalt officers were unconcerned with the seating arrangements of the prisoners, as they knew that the prisoners were too afraid to instigate anything; the consequences were a fate worse than death. "Rumor has it that it was filled with POWs, political prisoners, criminals, Romas, and homosexuals."  
  
Lena took a sip of her watery coffee as she drank in this information. A majority of the people in Freiwalt were Jews; Lena could count on a single hand the women in her barrack that were _not_ Jewish. While she knew that people such as the aforementioned were sent to the camps, to have a whole freight car of them sent here to Freiwalt was almost unimaginable.  
  
"Have they been divided up into the barracks?" She asked after a few moments.  
  
"They have. Forty-seven in Barrack 1, thirty-three in 2, twenty-four in ours, nineteen in 4, and thirty-eight in 5," Rebeckah answered, listing the amount of newcomers in each building. "I pity the women in barrack 1; Dafna has been speaking to me of how cramped they are; everyone there is already sleeping six to a bunk."  
  
Lena grimaced as she thought of their own barrack. While she was beyond relieved that she no longer was sleeping alone in a small, holding cell in Lager IV, she couldn't say that sleeping in a small cot with four other women was much better. To hear that they had twenty-four new heads to find a bed for made Lena's frown deepen.  
  
"How many of them had been selected for experimentation?" Lena asked.  
  
Once you arrived at Freiwalt, you were divided up into two groups: the ones to be immediately tested on, and the ones to be sent to work and eventually tested on later. To be placed in the second group was the best; being placed in the first group often meant that HYDRA developed a brand new serum and just needed a body to test it on. More often than not, the people placed in the first group ended up dead from the first trials of the serums. Few people managed to survive, and Rebekah was one of the very select ones who did.  
  
Rebekah hesitated. "Two hundred and sixteen."  
  
Lena gaped at her. "That's more than double the last time."  
  
"I know," Rebekah replied, moving her bread roll from hand to hand. "HYDRA must have a bunch of new serums to test out."  
  
Lena shook her head. The amounts of new prisoners in Freiwalt were always the same; the number of people placed in the second group always outnumbered the amount in the first. Why the sudden change? Surely they hadn't developed over two hundred and sixteen new serums to test out.  
  
"Have the newcomers been introduced to the barracks?" Lena asked, shoving a chunk of stale bread into her mouth. Stale bread had never tasted so good, after the past few days she had experienced.  
  
"I would assume so," Rebekah answered. "By the time Bianka and I left for breakfast, the newcomers were still filing into the storage building in Lager II for uniforms. I would think that they would be shown to their respective barracks right about now."  
  
"Speaking of Bianka, where is she?" Lena inquired, scanning the large mess hall for the thin, dark-haired Roma girl. "I've missed talking to her."  
  
Bianka Hanzi was one of the few Romas that Lena and Rebekah knew in Freiwalt. Despite their differences in race and age, the fifteen-year-old girl remained close to the two twenty-year-olds, and frequently spoke with them during meal breaks. Lena felt a fierce protectiveness over Bianka, mostly because of how she reminded her of a certain curly, brown-haired girl back in Auschwitz.

  
Rebekah stiffened. "The _Herr_ called her in for experiments." She dropped her voice a few octaves lower, bitterly muttering, "Or shall I say that _Beatrice_ called her in." Lena noticed the way her friend's nose crinkled in distaste at the mention of their kapo's name, and she couldn't say that she blamed her.

 

As a kapo, Beatrice was entitled to make everyone’s life a living hell- or at least more of a hell than it already was. Appointed by the HYDRA officers herself since she was a German Jew, she was given opportunities for more rations, food, and experiments, (Lena remembered her speaking one day of how she saved all of the “good” experiments for herself), for keeping the rest of the prisoners in line. To say that Beatrice was doing a top notch job as Freiwalt’s she-demon was an understatement; she gave out punishments like it was candy.

 

Lena muttered an unladylike curse in Czech, putting her head in her hands. Bianka had already been through experiments six times- which was five more than Lena had ever been taken in for. Lena was one of the last few women in her barrack that still had yet to be taken in for their first experiment- at least up until twelve days ago.

 

But Bianka was one of the youngest in the barrack. She had the second highest amount of experiments- just two behind Beatrice- and had one of the hardest powers to handle. She was a regenerate, which meant, as she explained it, that she could heal in a matter of moments, whether it be a blemish on her skin or an massive, internal wound. While it was a great power in theory, HYDRA’s experiments had taken it too far, subjecting her to torturous conditions to see just what her tiny body could withstand.

 

The most gruesome thing Lena had heard was how they had stripped her naked and thrown her into a large pot of boiling water, leaving her there until she passed out from the pain and nearly drowned. The HYDRA scientists pulled her out and watched in fascination as all the burns on her flesh peeled away in a matter of ten minutes, not a single imperfection or scar left on her skin. She was only fourteen at the time.

 

Rebekah left Lena alone to her thoughts for a few moments. She knew it was in Lena’s nature to worry about everything, especially about Bianka, and she sometimes found it best for her to just think and worry things out in her head until they all fell together.

 

A few moments passed before a whistle sounded in the vast room. “Everyone out to the pavilion, right now!” A HYDRA officer barked. “Time for morning roll call.”

 

Lena and Rebekah quickly packed up their leftover bread into their pocket and shuffled their way out with the rest of the four hundred and sixty-two- now six hundred and forty-eight- prisoners towards the courtyard.

 

“Did you miss this?” Rebekah dryly asked Lena.

 

“Yes, I did,” Lena answered honestly. Rebekah picked up on the note of sincerity in her response, and immediately understood; she had been on that walk through hell in Lager IV one too many times. The only thing she could offer her friend was a comforting squeeze of the hand, a sympathetic smile, and the hopes that she would find peace with herself once more.

 

+

 

Lena arranged herself into her position in the block, which was arranged by barrack, then subject identification number. As prisoner 3-193 in barrack 3, Lena stood near the middle of the block in the middle of her group, with Rebekah to her right and another Jew named Talori to her left. When Talori didn’t line up for the block, Lena figured that she was also taken for experimentation; she doubted that a twenty-two, physically strong woman such as her would die from working in the gardens.

 

Lena was pulled from her thoughts of her missing bunkmate when she noticed the newcomers marching over towards the pavilion. As expected, they were clad in striped Freiwalt uniforms, wooden clogs, and a depressed demeanor.

 

They filed into the form, searching for their barrack, rearranging themselves into the correct order. Some of the barracks had to pull further back into the pavilion to make room for the newbies falling into line, a slight grumble erupting before quickly being intervened upon by a HYDRA officer.

 

It was a glint of metal that caught Lena’s attention. Her heart sped up at the sudden thought that someone had sneaked in a long blade and was going to attack the HYDRA guards walking through the ranks during roll. But then, she realized that the ends of the supposed blade were curved, closely resembling…

 

Fingers.

 

Lena took a closer look at the metal object in barrack 2, observing silently from four rows back. The tips of the fingers were slightly curled in a relaxed position, slowly leading up to a hand, wrist, forearm, and a shoulder half-covered by the uniform sleeves.

 

A metal arm.

 

She tried to take a closer look at the person the arm was attached to, but he pushed down to the left of his line, further and further away from Lena. All she could catch of the stranger was a muss of short, yet grown-out, brown hair and a tall, muscular build- unlike any other build in Freiwalt. He was… healthy.

 

Lena was perplexed by the stranger- and judging from the look she shared with Rebekah out of the corner of her eye, she was as well. HYDRA bringing in a rather healthy looking man into a experimentation and concentration camp was a first. Many of the people brought into Freiwalt were young and frail, small and thin, due to grueling hours at previous camps. Incoming prisoners were not supposed to look young and strong, or tall and bulky, as this stranger had.

 

And an amputee! Never before had Lena seen an amputee in Freiwalt; she was sure he was the first and only one to ever walk through the front gates. The Nazis had always “disposed” of the disabled, and since HYDRA was a subdivision of the Nazis, she always assumed that they followed the Nazi’s protocol.

 

Lena mentally shook herself, clearing her thoughts of the stranger. She had to focus on what lay ahead of her right here, right now. If a single thing went wrong in roll call, the officers wouldn’t hesitate to start all over again from the very beginning. It had happened once before in Auschwitz because of her, and Lena wanted to prevent it from happening ever again.

 

Lena did a superb job staying attuned to what was happening during roll call- at least until the start of barrack 2. She began to think of her and Rebekah’s talk earlier that morning during breakfast, about why many of them were not yet being killed off.

 

She pondered over Rebekah’s argument for a few moments, of how they were all being stored for future use, and thus, the lack of selections. While Rebekah was on the right track, Lena felt that there was more to it than just ‘preserving their serums’. What HYDRA’s true intentions were with the prisoners, Lena still had yet to uncover.

 

+

 

Running across the camp to the workshops in Lager II was nothing to Lena. At least now, it wasn’t.

 

Nearly every morning after roll call, the HYDRA officers would order the block to run to their work stations. While nobody enjoyed running in their clunky clogs in the middle of March, no one dared complain; to complain only meant to bring on more pain to not only yourself, but to your entire work block.

 

And so, Lena learned how to suck it up and hold her tongue. It was just as important to not agitate your fellow work friends as it was to not agitate the officers, for both could easily end up ruining your life. She ran the mile and a half it took to get to the small factory in Lager II without complaint.

 

Lena had worked up a good sweat by the time the working block reached the small sorting room in Lager II. They were panting and sweating, desperate for water that they knew they could not have.

 

When Lena and Rebekah first arrived at Freiwalt, they were given the job of sorting through confiscated items of incoming prisoners. This included working through any old clothing that they were wearing before being given the camp uniforms, as well as any suitcases or valuables that were brought along with them. Though Lena expected to not find anything of value throughout the sorting from the latest incoming prisoners, since many of them already had their items confiscated at previous camps, they were told to “shut their yaps and get to sorting”.

 

The two girls were directed to a table and given a heap of old clothes to sort through. She assumed that these were a few of the clothes from people on the train that arrived this morning, judging from the faint scent of perfume and cologne that radiated from the pile.

 

Lena tried to make the job of sorting as mindless as possible. She willed herself to allow her hands to take over and organize the clothes she saw in front of her, dividing the stack into bottoms and tops, and bottoms and tops down to slacks and skirts and blouses and button downs. It was blissful, mind numbing peace when she willed herself.

 

Lena was taught to be thorough in her sorting; if there was anything that was deemed to be of value, it was to be handed over to the kapos or officers. What they did with them next, Lena didn’t know; she assumed that they kept it for themselves, or resold them to German citizens, as prisoners back in Auschwitz had always told her.

 

She was completing her thorough search through the inside pockets a man’s blue winter coat, with half of the left sleeve missing and bloodied, when she felt something cool and rectangle shaped brush against the tips of her fingers. Lena reached deeper into the inside pocket, her hand closing around the ball chain of a necklace.

 

Lena discreetly looked up, surveying her surroundings. The two HYDRA officers overseeing their work unit were on the other side of the room, observing the women’s sorting work, as well as their backsides. Lena involuntarily rolled her eyes in irritation of them, turning her attention back to the jacket. Since Lena was stationed at the very edge of the table, only Rebekah was to her right, who was currently engaged in folding and straightening her sorted piles.

 

With one glance back at the officers, Lena carefully pulled out the necklace, keeping it low against the surface of the wooden table. She recognized it as a set of dogtags, the type that soldiers would wear. An American soldier, according to the language.

 

She ran her index finger across the engravement, feeling the bumps and grooves in the metal. Though Lena knew she was rough with her English pronunciations, she sounded them out in her head, trying to get her mind to work with the foreign words.

 

“J-James... Barnes.” She mouthed the words slowly, thinking of how they should feel on her lips. She thought that she was completely butchering the words- a name, now that she thought about it- but a thrill went through Lena as she gradually worked her way up to whispering them. While she knew enough English to understand and translate for her family members, she was never confident in speaking it. In fact, she couldn’t remember the last time she _spoke_ English aloud- and this confidently, even if it was just a name.

 

Lena silently read through the rest of the information on the dogtag: A location (Brooklyn, New York), a date of birth, (March 10, 1925), and a whole bunch of numbers that she did not understand, (3733756 T42 41 meant nothing significant to her). There was a second dogtag behind the first that just read “Howling Commandos,” a phrase that befuddled Lena. She had never heard such an organization before.

 

She read through the dogtags two more times before setting it back down beneath the fabric of the winter coat. Lena had been sorting and organizing clothes for six out of the seven days of the week for the last three months, and it never got any easier. Every time she picked up an article of clothing, she was reminded of how it had _belonged_ to someone- someone who had _belonged_ to a family, someone who _belonged_ to their long-left community, someone who _belonged_ somewhere other than a concentration camp. This James Barnes was only a painful reminder of the thoughts that Lena had willed herself to push to the recesses of her mind.

 

Lena did not want to see yet another personal item scrapped. She had seen it happen so many times before; she had _done_ it so many times before, and she was tired of it. She didn’t want this last piece of James Barnes, wherever he may be now, to be taken away.

 

Her hands acted of their own accord, tucking the necklace away into the front pocket of her uniform behind her leftover chunk of bread. Lena didn’t remember ever making the firm decision to take it, just the feeling that she had done the right thing by trying to preserve this last piece of James Barnes. That feeling prevented her from reaching right back into her pocket and pulling the dogtags out to hand over to the _blockaltestes_ ; she would keep the memory of this stranger, this James Barnes, alive.

 

She glanced up to double check if anyone saw what she did. If she were to be discovered, she would be in severe trouble. Prisoners were forbidden to have any personal or valuable memorabilia, whether it be theirs or someone else’s.

 

Thankfully, no one noticed the slip- not even Rebekah, who seemed to be deep in concentration as she worked to untangle the sleeves of two shirts.

 

Lena relaxed slightly, and continued to work her way through her pile. She folded up the blue winter coat- which she also realized was James Barnes’- and set it aside on top of her shirts pile. As she picked up a woman’s light green blouse, checking to make sure it did not have any pockets for her to rummage through, she began to wonder of this James Barnes. Clearly from his dogtags, he was an American, far, far away from home. He must have been a soldier fighting for the Allies before being captured; that explained the bloodied and missing left sleeve of his blue jacket.

 

She thought back to what Rebekah had said at the start of breakfast: “ _There was a new train that came in earlier this morning… Rumor has it that it was filled with POWs, political prisoners, criminals, Romas, and homosexuals.”_

 

 _He just came in today_. The realization dawned on Lena as she finished folding a woman’s pretty, floral dress. There were hardly any POWs being held in the camp, other than four Russian Jews; he must have been on the train that arrived early this morning.

 

Lena’s giddiness at the realization was dampened as she remembered the sorting that always occurred once prisoners arrived. He could’ve been taken away in the first group for testing, and everyone knew that a majority of the first group taken never survived the experiments. Her heart sank for this James Barnes, a young man her age who might never see the world again.

  
She continued to pick through the pile, searching and sorting through the clothes and her thoughts. Lena willed herself to forget about experiments and American men with no chances, forcing herself to instead focus on folding and breathing for the time being.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Bucky is FINALLY in the story! I know he hasn't been mentioned a lot in this chapter, but I promise that the next few chapters will be filled with him.
> 
> Hopefully this chapter wasn't too long for you guys, (it's over thirteen pages long on Google Docs; I'm honestly surprised that I wrote that much, I never thought I ever could!). If you'd prefer me to chunk my chapters to make them a little shorter, please let me know, and I'll try my best to do so.
> 
> Again, leave your comments or questions about the story down below, or just hit me up on Twitter or Tumblr, (my contact info is located in my bio). Thanks again for reading, and thank you for leaving comments and kudos! It truly does mean a lot to me.


	4. Repercussions

The sun had sank well past the horizon by the time the work day finished. Lena was able to make it through four large piles of clothes and valuables before the alarm signaling the return to the pavilion for evening roll was called. Throughout that time sorting, her mind managed to not conjure up a single thought of James Barnes and his probability of making the first group of experimentees. She was rather proud of herself.

 

Lena’s work unit, mostly composed of women from barracks 1 and 3, were making their way back to Lager I. The two HYDRA officers shouted at them to run, wielding their guns and threatening to shoot anyone who dared to fall behind the group or stop running. It was nothing that Lena hadn’t heard before, both here and at Auschwitz.

 

Rebekah sprinted up to Lena, pushing her short legs in order to keep up with Lena’s long strides. Of all the things that HYDRA could have altered about Rebekah, they didn’t bother to change her petite 5’5” figure; she’d kill for a few more inches, just so she could physically see eye-to-eye to long-legged Lena.

 

Lena gave a tight smile to her friend as they jogged side-by-side. Lena was starting to feel light-headed and out of breath from the running, her throat parched and dry. None of them had a single drop of water all day, and Lena was only just feeling the side-effects of it now.

 

“There’s something I need to show you,” Rebekah stated breathlessly to Lena at normal volume. Neither of the HYDRA officers were close enough to hear their conversation, and the other workers were much too tired after a long ten-hour work day to tune into their conversation. “Something important.”

 

Lena looked at Rebekah, her brown eyes scrunching in curiousness. Rebekah just waved her friend off, swiveling her head to the side to look off at the forest that surrounded the camp. Clearly, she would speak no more on the topic.

 

Lena shook her head, blowing out a breath of air as her left foot pounded against the ground. Running was all a mind game. You just had to keep telling yourself that it was only a few more feet, a few more inches, until you could finally stop.

 

It was only a few moments later that their work unit rounded the last curve in the trail, arriving to the pavilion at the center of the camp grounds. A few other work groups, like the field workers and lumberers, were already there, beginning to organize themselves into the roll block.

 

Lena frowned at her friend, walking around to try and slow her racing heart. “What is this 'something' that you have to show me? Did you find another valuable in the sorting room?” She panted quietly.

 

Rebekah had a habit of taking valuables from the sorting room, but not so she could take them for the _kapos_ or _blockaltestes_. She kept as many valuables as she could, so that one day, she could return them to their proper owners. How Rebekah managed to sneak so many valuables and conceal them from HYDRA, Lena did not know; she just figured that Rebekah had extraordinary hiding skills.

 

Lena believed that it was just wishful thinking of her friend; the odds of all of those items ever being reunited with their owners ever again was slim to none. But she didn’t dare voice her opinion to her friend. She knew that Rebekah was just trying to do what she thought was best, which was to keep a part of people’s past alive- even if the endeavor was pointless.

 

Then again, wasn’t that the exact same thing that she had done when she took James Barnes’ necklace this afternoon? Was her saving the necklace just a pointless endeavor as well?

 

Rebekah’s response yanked Lena from her thoughts. “It’s not like the things I usually take; it’s something different. I-I think it’s a message from another camp.” She swallowed, uncertainty plain on her face. “A message for us.”

 

“What?” Lena shook her head, not believing what she just heard. “That’s impossible. Camps could never get in contact with one another.”

 

“Of course they _can_ ; they just _don’t_ because of how risky it is,” Rebekah said, lowering her voice and keeping an eye out for HYDRA workers and _blockaltestes_. “You know the consequences for trying to communicate to an outside camp.”

 

Of course she did. Like most punishments, it was torture. Death.

 

“This camp and it’s prisoners wouldn’t have risked reaching out to us unless they knew that it was of dire importance- unless they absolutely _knew_ that their message would reach Freiwalt,” Rebekah concluded. “That’s why I had to take it.”

 

Lena was still skeptical; Rebekah could see the doubt in her eyes. But she knew that it was just in her friend’s nature to be dubious; Lena was the type of person who needed to see things to believe it.

 

“What camp did this even come from? How do you even know that this message is for _us_?”

 

“I don’t know the name,” Rebekah admitted with a shake of her head. “But it must be from another experimentation camp. I doubt that any normal concentration camps know what Freiwalt is really for,” Rebekah theorized. “And the big ‘Freiwalt’ scrawled on the front of the message was a helpful indicator as to whom it was intended for.”

 

“It might’ve been planted there, Bekah,” Lena gently pointed out. “HYDRA might’ve purposefully set it there within the piles to test us- to see who would try and act on whatever’s inside the message, and weed out the prisoners who could rebel.”

 

Rebekah sucked in her lower lip. She hadn’t thought about the possibility of the message being a fake. When she saw the scribbled and rushed scrawl on the outside of the note, all she could think of was the hurry that the person must have been in to write this, as if the very fate of the Earth rested on their shoulders.

 

After a few moments, she proposed an idea. “We can take a look at it tonight in the barrack. If you think that it’s HYDRA, then we’ll forget about the note. I can send it blowing into the wind, never to be seen again.”

 

“Of course,” Lena said. That sounded fair enough to Lena. And what was the harm in appeasing her friend?

 

Rebekah was going to reply when she heard Lena’s name being called from one of the other side of the camp, close to where the entrance of the mess hall was located. The shouts of Lena’s name came closer and closer, getting more agitated and whiny with each passing moment.

 

Rebekah exchanged a troubled glance with Lena at the approaching voice. Everyone knew that when your _kapo_ was repeatedly calling your name, it was never good.

 

Beatrice rounded the corner, her aristocratic nose held up high in the air, silently daring anyone to defy her. The _teufel_ spotted Lena, and sauntered her way over, stopping just a mere two feet in front of her. Lena kept her face level, willing herself to not give Beatrice the satisfaction of seeing her squirm like many of the other prisoners she intimidated.

 

“Didn’t you hear me calling your name, _köter_?” Beatrice sneered at Lena, completely ignoring Rebekah. “Or have you turned deaf since I last saw you?” She gave Lena a once-over, assessing her from head to toe with contempt and disgust. “Not that I would be surprised,” she continued, locking gazes with Lena. “You’re too weak to handle the experiments.”

 

Lena bit the inside of her cheek to keep the string of responses that had gathered in her throat, all of which could land her in severe trouble. She urged herself to keep the stoic mask plastered onto her face, to not let Beatrice see just how much she bothered her. After all, that’s what the _kapo_ was after; she always loved seeing her victims sizzle, snap, and burn.

 

“But that doesn’t mean that you’re completely useless,” Beatrice stated euphemistically. “You’ve always been the one to find all of the good treasures in those piles of junk.” Beatrice began to walk around Lena in a circle, like a vulture before it swoops down to finish off its prey. “Did you happen to find anything while you were working today? Anything of a particular interest that you can give to me?”

 

Beatrice looked expectantly at Lena, a hungry look in her pale blue eyes. She had expected Lena to find something of value to bring to her, as she always had after every work session. From that, the _teufel_ would go straight to the HYDRA officers, trading the valuables for more food rations and experiments. It disgusted Lena what Beatrice did, asking for more portions and testing when her very own people were right next to her, starving and dying due to being a test rat.

 

But if Lena was being completely honest, she was disgusted with herself the most for being the person that enabled Beatrice to receive those things, for being a pawn in her little game. For being too weak, but not for the experiments as the _kapo_ had suggested earlier; she was disgusted for being too weak to attempt to make a change like Rebekah, to stand up against Beatrice, and in extension, HYDRA- even if it was in such a miniscule way like stowing away personal items to reunite with their rightful owners.

 

She would no longer be a chip for Beatrice to use.

 

Lena tried to keep her voice as emotionless as possible. “Nothing today, _kapo_. Tomorrow, perhaps.”

 

Beatrice stopped to the left of Lena and stared at her, her eyes narrowing into slits. “You always have something for me, _köter._ ”

 

“Yes, but nothing today,” she repeated once more, staring ahead at the building in front of her. She could see that Rebekah had moved a little farther away from Lena and Beatrice, her fear for Lena clearly painted in her eyes. Rebekah had just gotten her friend back, and she did not want to see her taken away to Lager IV once more. She knew that Beatrice had the power to lock Lena right back up into the hell hole she had just been released from; after all, the _kapo_ had done it to her more than a few times after Rebekah’s fiery attitude had gotten the best of her a few times- hence, the reason why she had shuffled off to the side, preventing her and her temper from jumping in.

 

“All of the items in the piles today were clothes,” Lena elaborated, hoping that details of her sort would make Beatrice buzz off. “No jewelry, no watches, no nothing. Check with me again tomorrow.”

 

Beatrice continued her circle around Lena, her eyes still narrowed. Lena could tell that she was assessing her body language, trying to determine if she was telling the truth. Lena figured it must be times like this when Beatrice wished that she had mind powers rather than the ability to create whole infernos with a wave of her hand.

 

Finally, the _kapo_ spoke. “Then if you are telling the truth…” She paused for dramatic effect, waiting until she stood directly in front of Lena once more. “...you wouldn’t mind turning out your pockets.”

 

Lena’s jaw tightened ever so slightly, but otherwise, her face remained the same. On the inside, though, she could feel the panic building up inside of her stomach. There was absolutely no way that she could hide the necklace from Beatrice, and once she found it, Beatrice would fry Lena with her powers- it wouldn’t have been the first time she had done it to someone.

 

Beatrice cocked an eyebrow and crossed her arms, clearly waiting for Lena to do as she has asked. Lena had no choice but to comply.

 

Just as Lena began to raise her hands to her shirt pocket, someone had rounded another building, shouting Beatrice’s name. A _blockalteste_ made his way over to the two women, his eyes alight with excitement.

 

“A complication has developed out in the quarry and all _kapos_ _und blockaltestes_ are needed to help divert it,” he reported to Beatrice. He gave no notice to Lena. “These are direct and mandatory orders; we must leave with haste.”

 

The _blockalteste_ turned to face the way he came, clearly expecting Beatrice to follow him.

 

“Don’t think that this is over _,_ ” Beatrice nearly growled at Lena, agitation clearly etched onto her face. “We’ll finish this later, _köter.”_ She left without another word, taking long strides to catch up with the higher ranking prisoner towards the quarry outside Lager II.

 

Once Beatrice rounded the corner of a building, Lena turned to face Rebekah, whose lips were pressed firmly together in a slight frown. What she was frowning at, Lena could not determine.

 

“Come along,” Rebekah finally said, walking over to her friend and grabbing her arm. “Roll call is going to start soon.”

 

+

 

As it turned out, roll call was not as soon as Rebekah had expected. Hushed whispers spread throughout the block, claiming that an entire work unit was missing.

 

“It must be that complication in the quarry fields,” Lena murmured to Rebekah in the block. They had been standing in place for so long that Lena’s legs threatened to give out from beneath her. Roll wouldn’t start until _every_ unit arrived to the pavilion, and by Lena’s estimate, it had already been a good forty-five minute wait. It was well past dark, and the little warmth that the sun offered in the day was slowly seeping away, the cold of the night taking its place. She hoped that the final work unit would arrive here soon before the chill permanently settled into her bones. “The _blockalteste_ was talking to Beatrice about it earlier, which was why she had to leave. Apparently all of the _kapos_ _und blockaltestes_ had to go and help fix the problem.”

 

“What kind of complication i-is it?” Rebekah questioned, shivering from the cold. She had already lost feeling in her toes and fingertips, and wished that she could move around to get her body heated once more. She couldn’t though, not unless she wanted a slap in the face from a HYDRA officer.

 

“He didn’t say,” Lena replied, “but it sounded serious.”

 

Rebekah lowered her voice as an overseeing HYDRA officer strolled closer to their barrack’s section in the block. “A lot of the newcomers were assigned to work in the quarry. They might have been trying to… you know…”

 

Lena knew alright, and a grimace overtook her face. Since the quarry was the closest part of the camp to the outside world, many quarrymen in the past had attempted to escape through there during the work hours. But trying to break out if Freiwalt was not only impossible, it was suicide- for everyone.

 

Just like every other choice someone made in Freiwalt, it affected not just you, but everyone else in the compound. Something such as taking a valuable from the sorting room was punishable by whipping, and the HYDRA officers had the final say on how many people were disciplined- which usually was more than just the offending party. Something such as an attempted breakout would result in even worse consequences.

 

Lena just sighed in reply, and said nothing more. She wondered numbly if the entire block would have to stand outside all night, with no dinner and no sleep. Her aching feet protested against the thought and urged her to think positively.

 

It was perhaps another thirty minutes, by Lena’s estimate, before she saw the bobbing heads of prisoners approaching the block. As Lena had predicted, it was the quarrymen, judging from the residual marks of dirt laced on their uniforms. As Rebekah had foretold, many of the quarrymen appeared to be newcomers, who didn’t understand the stupidity in acting up in a camp such as Freiwalt.

 

The quarrymen began to head to their respective parts of the block- all but five men, who were led to the front of the block where a large stage rested. The stage’s main purpose was to provide the three, head HYDRA officers with a view of the entire block during roll, but, as Lena occasionally- and sorrowfully- observed, it also acted as a place for public punishments to be carried out. Lena’s fists tightened at the sight of the men being led up the stairs of the stage, as she knew what was to become of them. A mixture of fury and pity pummeled her insides.

 

Lena took a closer look at the five fellow prisoners before her. She was surprised to discover that these were not newcomers as she and Rebekah had originally thought; they were men whom she had spoken to on occasion. These were men who had been in Freiwalt for much longer than Lena, men who knew the risks and consequences of acting up. Surely they knew better than to revolt; HYDRA must have been mistaken, and had taken the wrong men.

 

A reflection of light had Lena tearing her eyes away from the five men; it was the man with the metal arm.

 

She could only just make out the foundations of his face as he approached his barrack- the one right before hers. He had a strong facial structure, with arching cheekbones, a razor-edged nose, and a stubbly jaw, but the dim lighting of the pavilion could provide her with nothing more.

 

She was surprised he was placed to work in the quarry; she figured HYDRA would have assigned him a job that didn’t have to deal with so much physical labor due to his prosthetic arm. Then again, his prosthetic was _metal_ , and he did seem to be one of the most youthful and healthy looking of all of the quarrymen that came along. Perhaps he could survive the workload.

 

Lena’s eyes followed the man until he fell out of her line of vision, then focused her attention back to the five men on the stage. She noticed that their arms had been tied above their heads to the wall, their faces covered in dried, crusted blood and consternation.

 

After a few more moments, a HYDRA officer on the stage began to take roll. It was like any other roll call, despite the certain uneasiness that drifted in the air between the prisoners. There were shifting glances, twitching fingers, and sweaty palms, all indicators of the dread and anticipation that were knotted within the prisoners’ stomachs. They all knew of what was to come- they were just unsure of how far the repercussions would go. With HYDRA, it was always a guessing game.

 

Whenever the HYDRA agent reached one of the five men’s identification number, it was skipped over, as if they were not there on the list. Lena shut her eyes whenever this happened, not wishing to face the inevitable truth- that those five men were going to die.

 

Roll seemed to drag on forever. When it finally came to the end, one of the three, leading HYDRA officers made his way across the stage, stopping right in the center to face the block. Lena had a vague recollection of this middle-aged man; she believed him to be General Wagner, the man who had separated Rebekah and her their first day in Freiwalt. She hated everything about this soldier from the minute she laid eyes on him nearly two months ago.

 

“Today, there has been an attempted break out by five of your fellow inmates on the quarry detail. Very unfortunate,” Wagner said, sarcasm dripping from his voice. “It is suffice to say that they will be punished accordingly.

 

“Regrettably, we must remind you all that this behavior will not be tolerated!” He fumed, his face a cold, hard mask. “Every tenth member of each barrack will be executed alongside these dogs to serve as a reminder to you of the consequences for acting out. We hope that this will act as an incentive to think before you act.”

 

The blood from Lena’s face drained at the announcement. _Every tenth member from each barrack… Executed?_ That would mean nearly a dozen people from each barrack would be killed, and HYDRA had never gone that far before. A wave of nausea threatened to knock Lena over, and she locked her knees to keep from toppling over.

 

She thought briefly back to her conversation with Rebekah earlier in the day, when she noted that HYDRA was not killing all of them off through selections. Perhaps she had been mistaken; maybe HYDRA had been refrained from their usual mass murders to instead prepare this.

 

Wagner turned to face his two remaining colleagues on the stages. “Gentlemen, if you would?”

 

The two officers moved from their positions at the back of the stage towards the stairs. Lena’s heart began to beat faster as they made their way over to the block, splitting themselves up between the five, massive blocks. One of them, a short and balding man known as General Freigal, made his way to the back of the block, beginning to count out numbers in German once he reached barrack 4.

 

The other one, who Lena knew as General Baär, the camp’s Combat Instructor, began to count off at the front of the block, keeping count with his fingers as if he would forget. Lena watched as his tally grew closer and closer to ten, silently praying that it would not be someone she knew. She immediately felt ashamed of herself at the thought. Was a life less valuable just because she did not know them?

 

Of course not; she knew this. Camps such as Freiwalt just managed to change you, and draw out the worst sides in people- the selfish, inhumane side that made you forget what it was like to care for anything at all other than survival.

 

“ _Zehn,_ ” she heard Baär say. A cruel and placating smile spread across his face as he looked down upon his first victim and ordered them to step out in front of the form. Lena could not make out who it was, and she was not sure she wanted to know.

 

Baär worked his way throughout the lines of the barracks, eyeing each of the prisoners cooley. He continued to keep tally on his fingers, enjoying the pure looks of terror within each of the prisoner’s eyes- especially the ones who ended up being lucky number ten.

 

By the time Baär made it to Lena’s barrack, she had already figured out who would be chosen. A tiny wash of cool relief swept through her at the knowledge that she and Rebekah would be numbers 2 and 3, which was quickly followed with a stab of guilt and sorrow. If it was not her or Rebekah, it would instead be one of her barrack mates, a group of women that she had grown close to in the face of injustice and tragedy. As Lena had learned from her time in the camps, a win for you always equaled a loss for someone else- and that was just how things had to be.

 

Baär passed Lena and Rebekah, his finger tally matching up with Lena’s predictions. The defense instructor gazed directly into Lena’s dark eyes, where she saw a certain, cold amusement glinting within his. She shrank away from his stare, disgusted at the sight. Who would ever lack so much humanity that he would _enjoy_ watching others suffering?

 

Baär, of course, took Lena’s flinch as a sign of her fear. He knew he could intimidate, and he had no problem flaunting this power of his. He loved watching these acclaimed “miracle works” cower in front of him, dropping heights from the pedestal that the _Herr_ had placed them upon. He loved to watch the supposed mighty fall.

 

He pressed on with his counting, reaching his next victim moments later: Anastasia, one of the five women Lena and Rebekah shared a bunk with. Sorrow clenched at Lena’s heart as she watched the petite blonde step forward from the ranks, her jaw trembling slightly.

 

Fifteen more minutes passed before the two officers reached the end of their selective barracks. The chosen sixty-two prisoners that were asked to step forward were taken to the stage, their hands then bounded to mirror the five men already on the platform.

 

While there was a total of sixty-seven people on stage being punished, its effects were far reaching, making it feel as if the entirety of the camp was being reprimanded. There was not a single man or woman up there that did not have a friend that they had grown close during their stay in Freiwalt, friends that now felt as if if their heart was being ripped from their chest as they prepared for what was to come.

 

“It is truly sad to see such promising subjects up here before me,” said Wagner to the prisoners strapped to the wall. “I’ve watched a majority of you all grow into the wondrous things you’ve become. But this is necessary to remind you all of of the consequences that follow for disobedience.” He turned to a group of six HYDRA workers that stood at the base of the stairs and motioned for them to come forward. Each one carried a gun.

 

“Any final words?” Wagner questioned the strapped inmates in a bored tone after the gun-wielding men lined themselves up in front of the strapped prisoners. Wagner was annoyed that his dinner had been delayed by nearly two hours, and just wished that this business would wrap itself up.

 

It was silent for a heartbeat. Two. Three. Lena’s eyes travelled across the people before her lined up for slaughter, silently mouthing the words of Kaddish for these unfortunate souls.

 

_“... May there be abundant peace from Heaven and life upon us and upon all…”_

 

“Shoot them.”

 

+

 

There was nothing that Lena or the rest of her block could have done. There was nothing any of them could have done without suffering the exact same fate.

 

All they could do was stand and watch in horror.

 

Lena did this as the first bullets pierced the prisoners’ skin, their bodies jostling against the wall at the high-speed impact. She watched as the life slowly drained out of them in thick, oozing red streams that splashed onto the stage below them. She watched as their bodies fell limp against the ropes, the finality of their death settling into their muscles and bones.

 

She watched Wagner watching with an icy, merciless expression on his face.

 

The prisoners didn’t even have time to scream.

 

Wagner held up a fist, drawing the gunfire to a halt. The six HYDRA men lowered their guns, their attention back on their head general. “Take the corpses to the crematorium,” he ordered disinterestedly, already turning away from the spectacle of bodies before him. “Have them burned before dawn.”

 

He was halfway back across the stage before a dark chuckle caused his head to swivel. One of the prisoners, one of the original five quarrymen at the center of the stage, was still alive, if only by a little. Wagner maintained his bored and uninterested expression, albeit a look of amusement played at the corners of his eyes and mouth at this prisoner’s stubborn grip onto life.

 

“ _Gerechtigkeit wird nicht vergessen werden!”_ The prisoner cried fearlessly at Wagner, loud enough for the entire pavilion to hear. Lena did not recognize the man’s voice, or his blood-splattered face. He seemed primal- animalistic, even; but most of all, determined. Lena wondered what this determination was for. “Their deaths will not be forgotten!”

 

Lena’s eyes flashed to Wagner, who had his attention fully trained on the last living prisoner strapped to the wall. While Lena could not gauge his reaction, since his back was to the block, his posture was alert and rigid, nothing like the bored and uninterested stance he just held seconds ago. This prisoner’s words had awakened something within the man. Anger, definitely, but Lena could sense that it was something more. Surprise, perhaps- maybe even panic.

 

The man chuckled darkly, clearly amused with whatever reaction he had garnered from Wagner. “My brothers and sisters… they will find the truth,” he wheezed, spit and blood trailing from his mouth. “Everyone will learn the truth of _Gerechtigkeit.”_

 

“Finish him,” Wagner growled to the HYDRA officers. The men readied their guns once more, taking aim at the final prisoner who stared back defiantly at them. “And burn his body first.”

 

+

 

“After what happened tonight, I sincerely think that it is a bad idea,” Rebekah said to Lena as she stared out the window into a dark, starless night. “Let’s just forget about this and go to sleep. We have a long day ahead of us tomorrow.”

 

“Every day is a long day,” Lena sighed. “And I know that you want to find out what’s inside that note.”

 

The two girls were back in barrack 3 after a day, (twelve days for Lena), that seemed even longer than it had been. After watching the executions of their fellow prisoners, and being forced to look at the remains, the block was dismissed for dinner in the mess hall. Lena had not eaten much, despite the hunger she felt. All she saw when looking in her bowl of soup was the trails of blood that now stained the wooden stage.

 

Once the prisoners were taken back to their respective barracks, a majority of them headed off to their bunks, exhausted from the long work day. While HYDRA may have given them an extended lifespan and extraordinary healing powers and strength, they still felt the claws of exhaustion just as easily as a regular human. Their powers could only do so much.

 

But Lena fought against her exhaustion, urging herself to stay awake. She found herself being haunted by the prisoner’s final words ever since the start of dinner all the way up until now.

 

_Gerechtigkeit wird nicht vergessen werden._

 

 _Justice will not be forgotten_.

 

Why had those words erected such a response from Wagner? Previously executed prisoners always shouted something “patriotic” sounding before their deaths, and the generals never reacted to it; just yawned and looked on with a monotone expression. What was different about this man’s proclamation that had Wagner all up in arms?

 

These questions plagued Lena’s mind, incessant and insistent. She rubbed at her temples, feeling a headache coming on from her brain’s overload. She was eager to find a distraction when Rebekah’s mystery message emerged to the forefront of her mind. Lena had spent the past five minutes pestering her friend over the note, yet to no avail.

 

“Lena,” Rebekah sighed miserably, turning to face her friend from the small window in the back of the barrack. Her eyes were still slightly red from her earlier cries of mourning for the slain prisoners once they returned to the barrack. It killed her every time to know that to attempt to aid the death-sentenced prisoners meant to sentence dozens more to their doom as well, and the only way she knew to deal with that frustration was to cry it all out. Rebekah didn’t understand how Lena managed to remain so… put together in times like this. “Weren’t you the one who suggested earlier that HYDRA ‘purposely planted it’? Why the sudden excitement to read its contents?”

 

“No excitement. I just need it as a distraction,” Lena declared.  “And I think you could use a distraction, too, Bekah,” she finished softly, taking in her friend’s bloodshot eyes. “Thinking about what happened will only make it worse.” She knew this all too well from experience.

 

Rebekah nodded, glancing away from her friend to take in the rest of the barrack. Thirteen girls had been executed from their housing unit, but in that moment, it had seemed like more. There were still a little over a hundred women left in their barrack, yet all Rebekah could see were the spots in the bunks that were now empty, with no hope of their former occupants returning like they would after experiments. They were gone- forever.

 

“Okay,” Rebekah exhaled, looking back at an expectant Lena. A distraction, though not the most permanent of cures, was still an antidote for pain. “Fine. We can look at it.”

 

Rebekah removed herself from her position by the window, moving to sit next to Lena on the hard, dirt floor in the corner. A single overhead lantern at the center of the large building provided feeble heat and light to the sleeping barrack- save for subjects 3-193 and 3-194.

 

Rebekah reached into her front pocket where she stashed the square, folded-up note. As Rebekah had reported, a quick and messy hand had scribbled ‘Freiwalt’ on the front in nearly illegible German. It was wrinkled and covered in dirt and filth, seeming to be months old. Lena frowned at it, and wondered how recent this message was.

 

Lena voiced her thoughts to her friend, who just shook it off. “Judging from the pile of clothes I found this in, it must be from one of the more recent train arrivals. Two months ago at the latest, judging from the age of the air particles suppressed in the fabric of the pocket the note was in.”

 

“You can tell the _age_ of air particles?” Lena asked dumbfounded. “I didn’t know that was something you could do.”

 

“Neither did I, until last week.” Rebekah’s mouth tilted upwards at the corners, a hint of humor in them. “HYDRA gives the gifts that just keep on giving.”

 

“Wait. You used your powers outside of the Lager!” Lena exclaimed in a low whisper. “You know we’re not supposed to do that!” Using any of their powers unless strictly advised to was dangerous; not only did it mean that you would have HYDRA officers to answer to for committing an infraction, but you also risked the lives of your fellow prisoners. No experimentee was ever sure of the true extent of their powers.

 

“We’re also not supposed to take valuables from the sorting room, but that doesn’t stop me- or you, for that matter,” Rebekah retorted. Lena moved to contradict her friend, but Bekah held up a hand to silence her. “Don’t try to deny it. I know you took something today; I just don’t know what, or why.” An amused smile graced her features, making the girl seem much younger than twenty. “You usually try to play by HYDRA’s rules.”

 

“How did you know?” Lena asked, once again dumbfounded by her friend. She was just full of surprises tonight.

 

“I saw you looking at something in the sorting room. I just figured that it was something that you would give away to Beatrice when she asked.”

 

Rebekah didn’t ever chastise her friend for her actions of following the rules and standards that HYDRA had set in place. After all, Rebekah knew that if she herself was caught, she would be placed right up on that stage beside God knows how many other prisoners, preparing for a whipping- and she knew that that was a risk priced much too high for Lena to even consider taking.

 

Rebekah took the risk herself because to her, it was worth taking. HYDRA had stripped her people of everything they owned- their families, the clothes on their backs, their chances of ever being one hundred percent _normal_. Rebelling against them, even if in the smallest of ways possible, and having the chance to restore some sense of comfort and normalcy to her fellow prisoners was a risk worth taking in her book- at least with the proper precautions, which she was sure to follow up on. She wanted to avoid any chances of punishments, both for herself and her fellow prisoners, as much as possible.

 

But she understood why Lena did what she did, just as Lena understood why Rebekah did what she did. It was a crucial part of their friendship, their ability to comprehend and trust one another to do what they felt was right.

 

“I didn’t know for sure that you had taken it until the _teufel_ graced us with her presence. You visibly tensed up when she asked you to turn out your pockets,” she continued, she same amused expression still plastered onto her face. “I’ll need to teach you how to control that.” After all, she herself had experience in blocking off a few pestering _blockaltestes_.

 

“I think this was a one time thing,” Lena replied, focusing on the weight in her right pocket and the patterns traced within the dirt floor. “I didn’t even think about taking it- it just felt like the right thing to do at the time.”

 

Rebekah nodded in agreement. “Just like me using my newly discovered power to find out how old the note is,” Rebekah said, returning to their previous topic of conversation, “which I highly doubt HYDRA will care about. If my ability to correctly state the age of certain materials based on atmospheric gases was a power they were looking for, they would’ve asked me to do it during one of their last testing sessions.”

 

“HYDRA likes to be thorough,” Lena whispered back, relieved at the switch in topic. “They don’t like you finding things out on your own.”

 

“You know what else HYDRA likes to be? A big pain in my-”

 

“Subject 3-193,” boomed a masculine voice from the barrack door.

 

Lena froze at the call of her subject number, locking gazes with Rebekah. What was a HYDRA officer doing at their barrack in the middle of the night?

 

“Subject 3-193,” the voice repeated again, a little more forcefully. “Your presence is mandated in Lager IV by the _Herr._ I advise to not keep him waiting at this time of the day.”

 

Her blood froze, then rose to a boil and simmered. She had just been released from the Lager _today._ Why on Earth was she being sent back less than 12 hours later? This type of thing rarely happened with the other prisoners. Why her?

 

A shivering thought creeped its way into her head. Perhaps they had spotted her sneak the necklace into her pocket, and this was their way of punishing her- through more experiments. If that was the case, Lena didn’t know if she should feel relieved at the notion that she would be sparing others a whipping, or fear at knowing they’d poke and prod at her even more.

 

The necklace. Her attention fell back onto the weight resting in her pocket like an anchor holding her to the spot. She couldn't keep it with her while she was in Lager IV.

 

Lena fumbled inside of her pocket, her slim fingers searching for the chain. Her slim fingers closed around the chain, and she fished it out, throwing it into Rebekah's lap. "Hide this," she hissed hastily. "Keep it with the rest of the belongings you've taken. We’ll look at the note another time.”

 

Without another word or look at her friend, Lena rose from her hiding spot behind the row of bunk beds and walked towards the officer. She prayed that the man would not question her of why she was not asleep like the rest of the barrack, and he didn’t. Whether that was a good or bad thing, Lena couldn’t decide.

 

The HYDRA officer, whom she recognized as the man who escorted her everywhere in Lager IV- she just assumed that he would _always_ be the one sent to deal with her- led Lena off into the dark for the second time that day. She briefly pondered the possibilities of what would happen to her once she reached the damned building- none of which ended with pleasant outcomes.

  
Again for the second time that day, Lena found herself mouthing the words of Kaddish- this time, for herself.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hi everyone, thank you for reading! I was in a bit of a rut while writing this chapter, and was really unsure with how it would turn out. I hope that it met your expectations! I PROMISE that Bucky will be in the next chapter, just hang in there.
> 
> First, I would like to apologize fore any mistakes in grammar, spelling, etc. I was much too lazy to edit, (oops), and much too eager to post, (oops).
> 
> Again, thank you for reading this loooong chapter, (and this loooong note!), it was a whopping FIFTEEN pages on Google Docs! I'm looking forward to updating with the next chapter soon, so stay tuned!
> 
> Comment below with your critique and questions for me or the story, (or message me on my Tumblr- my URL is located in my profile), and I promise that I will get back to you ASAP! Thank you so much for all of the kudos and love that you show to this story, it truly means a lot to me.


	5. Introductions

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Long time, no update! So sorry for the three week delay. Summer vacation has kept me on my toes.
> 
> Thanks for all the comments and love you guys have been leaving in my absence, though. It's really motivated me to write!

Lena should have known that it was too good to be true. 

 

She knew believing that she had been released from HYDRA’s monstrous claws for good was foolish, yet there she was today, wholeheartedly believing that they were finished testing on her since she had stayed in Lager IV for twelve days- the longest out of any first time experimentee in Freiwelt, to her knowledge.

 

But no. She had allowed her hopes to soar too high- something that she knew was unwise and dangerous. Having high hopes and seeing them crushed right in front of you was more deadly than any serum HYDRA could have ever injected into her veins.

 

She should have known better.

 

Lena tried to let go of the ache of disappointment that lingered in her chest, and worked to focus on her surroundings. After yet another walk in silence with the HYDRA guard back to Lager IV, she had been led to a very different experiment room, one that was nothing like the lab she had been in during her previous stay. Not only was it vastly smaller than the former, there were also no surgical utensils or tables in sight. All that remained was the grimy, dirt-crusted tile floors, the faint, lingering scent of blood, and an odd black strip of tape on the ground. Thankfully, there was also no large screen from the day that she discovered her power anywhere in the room, either. The  _ Herr _ , for no reason other than to torture her, insisted on keeping the screen in the corner of her experiment room as a reminder of what should happen if she did not do exactly as HYDRA instructed- even if she wasn’t exactly sure how her body would pull it off.

 

Perhaps the most drastic difference between the two rooms, though, was the wall that lined the back of the room. It wasn’t the same, grey stone that made up the rest of the walls, but instead a white wall that seemed to be made of a cork-like substance. She frowned at the wall, walking up to it and placing a hand on the cool surface of it. She didn’t like when things seemed out of the ordinary, especially when it came to HYDRA.

 

“Subject 3-193,” exclaimed a voice behind Lena. “How nice it is to see you again.”

 

The  _ Herr _ entered the room from a side door that she had not noticed earlier, a trail of four HYDRA officers behind him. Two of the officers were carrying small, black boxes in their arms, and moved to set them down at the long piece of tape on the floor three meters away from Lena. While her interested was piqued at the appearance of said boxes, she made her face remain the same as it always was around HYDRA officers: cold and lifeless.

 

“We were just so ecstatic to uncover more about your ability that we simply couldn’t wait until tomorrow,” the _ Herr _ gushed. “You and subject 3-192 are perhaps one of our most confounding, yet intriguing, creations yet.”

 

Lena felt a jolt of surprise at the mention of Talori. She briefly recalled how the other woman was missing from both roll calls today, and wondered what hellish things HYDRA had injected into her to have their interest piqued. Lena could only pray that the scientists hadn’t taken  _ too _ much of an interest in her.

 

“We’d like to conduct another research experiment tonight, if that’s okay with you,” the  _ Herr  _ continued on, strolling closer to Lena.

 

_ As if I even had a choice,  _ Lena thought bitterly. HYDRA never asked- just  _ did, _ no matter what the consequences. Her face remained composed, determined to not show any of her emotions that boiled beneath the surface.

 

“Over the course of the past few days, we have been focusing too much on the strengths of your abilities,” the  _ Herr _ began. “Controlling where you can travel to without occupying the space in between those two areas is a very useful resource indeed. But we have not been thinking of the drawbacks of having such a power.

 

“This ability of yours is one about speed and resilience,” the  _ Herr  _ continued. “It is about how quickly you can move from point A to point B. But one thing we have not considered is your movement from point A to point B to point  _ C _ . Can you move- or  _ teleport _ , as my colleagues have so cleverly dubbed this ability of yours- yourself directly after finishing your previous movements? If so, is there any sort of refractory state in between these spurs of teleportation? Any sort of ‘jump limit,’ if you will?”

 

The  _ Herr _ looked at Lena with an excited sort of wonder swimming inside his blue eyes. It was a look that she had been on the receiving end of one too many times, a look that made her feel as if she was anything but human, and instead a rather fascinating, unknown species that he couldn’t wait to dissect. A sickening feeling squirmed inside of Lena’s stomach, and she glanced away from the  _ Herr _ towards the men with the black boxes. 

 

“To determine the answer to those questions, we’ve developed a unique obstacle course that will become increasingly more difficult the longer it continues. This course will not only test how well you can control your abilities, but will also collect data on how swiftly you can consecutively teleport yourself. This information will be gathered through a series of wires connected to you that will measure the time span in between these jumps, which we will then analyze to determine if there is, indeed, a limit for your abilities- which, of course, we will work to eliminate,” the man finished, as if he was doing Lena a favor. 

 

A pair of hands brushed against Lena’s left arm, and she stiffened at the contact. She relaxed only slightly as she realized that it was just a white-coated HYDRA scientist rightly wrapping the wires that the  _ Herr _ had mentioned earlier around her limb. When the HYDRA scientist was finished, a coil of silver and gold wires was bundled around the length of her left forearm, and her mind couldn’t help but think of the man with the metal arm.

 

“What is this obstacle course, you might ask?” The  _ Herr _ queried rhetorically. He didn’t expect an answer from subject 3-193, and he didn’t harness the heart to care enough for a response. “That is where these young men come in,” he answered, gesturing behind him slightly to the four HYDRA men, who had evenly spread themselves out behind the black tape, facing the white wall. The two boxes that had been carried in with them rested between the men, who had divided themselves up into pairs.

 

“While they are not necessarily the obstacle that you will have to work to overcome, they will be the ones wielding it.” The  _ Herr _ turned his head to face the men completely. “Open the boxes,” he ordered firmly.

 

Lena’s chocolate eyes flickered over to the two boxes as the lids were flipped over. From inside the deep chests, a thousand thin and pointy blades winked back at Lena. The sick knot that had twisted up inside of her stomach now unfurled itself into a flat feeling of dread and unease.

 

“Your objective for this experiment is simple,” the  _ Herr _ explained as Lena’s eyes darted back up to his. “Use your abilities to evade the blades that these  _ offiziers  _ will be throwing at you. The release times of the knives will be staggered at first, but they will, as I mentioned earlier, become increasingly faster. The quicker the blades are coming at you, the faster you have to work to teleport to escape them. Through this exercise, we hope to find the answers to our queries so that we may better future serums. The procedure will begin once the final wires have been attached.”

 

The  _ Herr _ moved to speak with the four men lined up in front of the tape, discussing with them in hushed tones of what they were not permitted to do to the subject, such as purposefully aim for major arteries and organs, any parts that were connected to wires. Just because he and his team of scientists had developed an experiment that allowed them to throw knives around did not mean that he didn’t want extensive damage done to his subject- or equipment, for that matter. Meanwhile, the white-lab coated scientist had returned to Lena’s side, this time with a band of wires that were then hooked around the brown-eyed girl’s head. She wondered if through this contraption they could hear the disbelieving thoughts that were racing through her head.

 

This experiment was unlike any that HYDRA had ever made her done. The tests that were carried out over the past few days were simple, ones that worked to improve her control over where she could travel. She was relatively relaxed during those- or at least as relaxed as one could be, while surrounded by people who could have her neck snapped without a moment’s hesitation- and could easily comply to what the  _ Herr _ was asking her to do, now that she had some semblance of what it was she thought they wanted.

 

But this experiment had her feeling anything but relaxed. Tension was building up within her system, a suffocating and smothering feeling that worked from her chest outward. Lena’ body hummed out a harsh doubletime, pumping adrenaline throughout her limbs and torso, and she had to work to remind herself to breathe. 

 

The  _ Herr _ had not even mentioned to her what would happen should she ever be struck by one of the blades. Would they pause the experiment, and have her bandaged up? Would they make her keep going until she was gravely injured? Until she was finally dead?

 

Lena became so distracted by her thoughts that she barely noticed when she was being lined up straight in front of the white wall by the HYDRA scientist. It wasn’t until she saw the familiar wink of a blade from the inside of a HYDRA agent’s hand that she snapped back into reality.

 

Here she was, staring death in the face yet again. The only difference was, she was unsure if she had what it took to survive all of those other times. She was unsure _ how  _ she had survived all of those other times.

 

“On my mark,” the  _ Herr  _ called out, retreating to a spot a few meters behind the four men where a control monitor rested. His eyes were alight with a strange, anticipatory glow, hungry for the sights that would come from this experiment. Subject 3-193 had captured his interest, more so than any other subject in Freiwalt; while she had been gifted with many strengths, thanks to this new power of hers, she also had many new weaknesses- weaknesses that he had to uncover in order for him to perfect her, to be HYDRA’s ultimate weapon.

 

To be HYDRA’s iron fist.

 

_ “Anfang _ .”

 

+

 

It had been ten minutes.

 

Ten, grueling minutes since the first blade had been released into the air, aimed straight at her lower abdomen.

 

Ten minutes since she had first teleported herself.

 

At the start, it was as easy as breathing to transport herself out of the way of incoming knives; the blades were coming at a slow and predictable pace, so slow that she figured that she didn’t even need to use her powers. She could easily maneuver her way out of their way herself, and watch as they lodged themselves into the white, corklike wall behind her. But she did as she was asked, and used her abilities of  _ teleportation _ , as the  _ Herr _ had called it, to dodge the objects. Perhaps this experiment wouldn’t be as terrible as imagined.

 

But after the first three minutes or so, the men began to throw them at a slightly increased pace. Instead of easily being able to jump from one point to another, and having time in between those jumps to rest, she had to actively keep moving. Lena found herself slightly out of breath once she passed the seven-minute mark, her jumps travelling less distance than they were previously. She felt herself growing slightly frustrated at her tiredness- after all, that was another thing that the testing over the past few days had taught her to deal with. And now, when in a different situation and when her life was possibly on the line, all of that information went out the window.

 

“Increase the speed, men,” the  _ Herr _ yelled out to the officers in front of him. The monitor screen on the control board was lighting up sporadically with incoming data, yet it was not enough. He needed more than this to come to an accurate conclusion.

 

Internally, Lena grimaced. Her breaths were coming out in slight pants, and sweat was already rolling down her skin. The HYDRA officers bumping up their speed was the last thing she wanted.

 

Lena kept teleporting herself around for a few minutes, feeling as if she was running with how fast she was moving. She was barely staying in one place before she found herself jumping right back to where she just was.

 

And these actions of hers were starting to become predictable to the HYDRA men. They could tell that she was beginning to feel fatigued, her mind going on autopilot; she was just moving for the sake of moving. It was only a matter of time before they would get her.

 

One of the HYDRA men to the far right took advantage of this unbeknownst weakness of hers. He tossed out a knife to the general area of which he believed she would jump back to in order to escape being hit by another knife, watching it as it arced seamlessly through the air- and as it grazed the subject’s shoulder as she reappeared before him.

 

Lena sucked in a breath, willing herself not to whimper out in pain at the contact of the knife that had whizzed by her shoulder, slicing deep into her tender skin. Trails of blood streamed down her arm, pumping out in time with her heart. She looked on in shock, first at her arm, then at the men in front of her who were poised to strike again.

 

“Keep at it, men,” the  _ Herr _ instructed, looking over Lena without a note of worry in his voice. The agents hadn’t injured any of the equipment or major organs of the subject’s body, so he was rather unconcerned with the subject’s minor cut. “Just remember the warnings I told you,” he said, returning to transcribing the data listed on the monitor.

 

The HYDRA men nodded at their orders, eagerly flipping the knives over and over again in their hands. A malevolent expression shadowed their faces, their intent crystal clear: to make Lena suffer.

 

Lena tried to compose herself, desperately trying to beat back the panic she felt rising in her throat. She was exhausted from the repeated jumps she had already made, and she wasn’t sure how long she could keep going. The fact that she had barely eaten any dinner didn’t help either.

 

Before she could completely settle herself, another blade was released into the air, aiming right for her other arm. Ignoring the stinging sensation that pulsated throughout her left arm, Lena moved to jump once more, landing three feet away from her previous location. The further she continued the exercise, the more drained she felt, meaning the less distance she could make herself travel. While Lena desperately urged her body to cooperate, she knew that it could only do so much.

 

A few milliseconds after Lena landed, another blade arced through the air towards her. Her body reacted, jumping just in time to evade it, only to observe yet another blade that was now flying at her. 

 

Back and forth Lena went, trying to escape knife after knife. She was given no time to catch her breath or recharge herself, barely even given time to  _ think _ about where she had to jump  _ to _ , as she had been forced to learn just days prior. All she knew was that this part of her, this unnatural and foreign side given to her by HYDRA, was slowly taking over the controls. She could faintly feel Lena Ezra slipping out and away from her, something dark and slightly unsettling sliding into her place.

 

But Lena was not worried at her loss of control for the time being; this part of her was working to help her  _ survive, _ something that she knew she couldn’t do alone- at least in this scenario. Meaningless camp labor and meager food servings she could handle; knives and various weaponry that were sailing towards her vital organs, not so much. She was grateful that some part of her seemed to know what was necessary in order to live.

 

But it still wasn’t enough. The knives were now coming at her at what seemed to be the exact same time, narrowing her choices of where she could jump to. Occasionally, she would transport herself directly into the knives’ line of trajectory, ducking to avoid being struck, but this made it harder for her to see where the next object would be coming from. While she tried to avoid doing this, it wasn’t always controllable; there was still so much Lena’s body didn’t know about this power of hers.

 

By now, Lena was panting, with beads of sweat coursing down her skin. The cut on her arm was still bleeding and mixing with her perspiration, creating a slight stinging sensation whenever she moved.  _ Surely they must be almost out by now,  _ she thought tiredly as another officer reached for a blade. The man flipped it into his right hand, and flung it out into the air. The serrated edge winked and sparkled at Lena as she jumped yet again, out of its reach to the other side of the target range. She could feel herself nearing the end, feel the power slipping away from her body and out of reach. She was unsure if she could keep this up any longer, and she knew that the HYDRA agents could tell.

 

Another blade was spiraling her way. Lena urged herself to jump, to move herself out of the way of the blade, but found herself unable to. Lena could still feel her power pulsing through her veins- there was no way that she could have “used” it all up, especially if it changed her on a genetic level- but she was simply unable to come in contact with it and  _ use _ it. It was as if she had been reaching for an outstretched hand, only to find that it had quickly withdrawn itself far out of her reach just as her fingers worked to grasp it.

 

The knife’s pointed edge pierced into her right shoulder, lodging itself right into the sinew beneath her collarbone. Lena opened her mouth to emit a slight yelp that was half of a gasp, half of a scream. Blood welled around the blade’s point of entry in her skin, slowly dripping down her torso. 

 

But Lena could waste no time worrying over her injuries; she knew that the HYDRA officers sure as hell wouldn’t.

 

Ignoring the excruciating pains that erupted from her arm when she moved, Lena dove to the ground, ducking away from another incoming projectile. She almost moved straight into the line of yet another blade as she did this, moving her right foot out of the way behind her just in time. Lena ripped the blade out from her shoulder, sucking in a breath at the pain that tore through her body afterwards. The blood from her wound flowed in a more rapid current, drops of red spilling onto the tile floor at an uneven tempo. If they didn’t stop this diabolical exercise, she could very well bleed out and die from her wound.

 

Her odds of surviving as of now, though, weren’t looking so bright; it was four to one, she had no weapons of her own, and she had assumed that she finally had reached this “limit” that the  _ Herr _ was looking for all along, meaning that she couldn’t use her powers even if she wanted to. There was no way for her to find a way out of this predicament.

 

Lena weakly threw herself out of the way of another knife, reaching up to her bleeding shoulder and applying pressure to it. The fabric of her striped shirt was soaked with her blood, a slight hole in the sleeve from where the knife punctured it. This fact slightly annoyed Lena, despite her distress, for she knew that she wouldn't ever receive a replacement shirt.

 

Black spots were beginning to cloud Lena’s vision, and she felt rather faint. There was no telling just how much blood she had already lost, and if she were to get hit again, that would surely mark the start of the end for her. 

 

_ “Bitte,” _ Lena panted out to the men, still on her knees. She moved to her right an inch, just narrowly missing yet another of the men’s projectiles. “I c-can’t do it anymore.”

 

With her head slightly bowed down to the ground, she didn’t see the knife that was flying down towards the flesh above her knee until it was much too late. A loud, animalistic howl tore from Lena’s vocal chords at the agonizing sensation of yet another blade piercing her skin. Tears that had gathered at the corners of her eyes threatened to spill down, and she willed them back, not wanting the officers to see her cry.

 

_ “Bitte!” _ She half-sobbed, half-panted, yanking the knife out of her leg. Lena fell backwards onto her backside, seeing the small hole on her right knee gushing crimson red before reaching with her other hand to apply pressure to the wound. She glanced up once more, watching as the men lined up in front of her spun their weapons between their fingers, remorseless.

 

_ “Nein,” _ the  _ Herr  _ said, still looking down at his notes. “The experiment must continue.”

 

_ “Bitte, nein,” _ Lena pleaded softly. She swallowed, trying to push down the pain. She could feel the blood pumping out of her body against her hands- could feel herself drifting closer to her doom with each heartbeat.

 

But she knew it was no use; no one would acknowledge her soft cries. If no HYDRA officer ever had before, why would they do so now?

 

Lena bowed her head and squeezed her eyes shut, the fatigue from the blood loss settling into her bones. To try and evade the knives would be a fruitless effort; if the first blade didn’t strike her, a second or third one surely would.

 

Her fate was sealed, and there was nothing she could do to change it. She had never felt more helpless in her entire life.

 

_ May He who makes peace in His high places grant peace upon us and upon all Israel and say, Amen. _

 

A final pinch at the center of her abdomen was the last thing Lena felt before she fell backwards into darkness.

 

+

 

A dull throbbing sensation spread throughout Lena’s body. She was unsure of where she was, how long she had been out, or how much damage had been done to her. She was especially unsure if whether or not she wanted to know any of the answers to her musings.

 

She was unsure if she even wanted to open her eyes. She was beyond content to stay in this blissful place of nothing, where it was just her, the darkness, and the air that she breathed- a place where the world and all of its inhabitants could no longer harm her. She was tired of being used and abused.

 

But insistent murmurs from outside her cocoon worked to coax her out of her shell. They were unintelligible at first, sounding like whispers of the wind, but they steadily grew stronger and more persistent.

 

Lena took a moment to dissect the mutterings she heard. It was not a group of voices as she had expected, discussing the conditions of their subject. Instead, it was a single voice, harsh and low and masculine. She mistook the voice for that of a HYDRA scientist, mindlessly rambling to himself, but a closer listen to it revealed something that the workers of Freiwelt lacked- emotions. 

 

While she could not decipher the words being spoken, she could most definitely tell the sentiments that was felt behind them: Loss. Longing. Desperation. Love.

 

It was those sounds of raw emotion that had Lena wanting to peak her head out of her shell. It had been so long since she had heard something that human and sincere- with the exception of Rebekah, who never failed to share her feelings with the world.

 

Lena’s eyelids fluttered open, revealing a room that very much resembled the experimentation room she was in previously. The room was just as large and just as unsanitary looking, lined with rows and columns of cots and medicinal looking objects. She found herself spread out on one of the aforementioned beds, next to a forest green medical curtain that had been hooked up to her right, obstructing part of her view of the room. Swathes of gauze were wrapped around her arms and shoulder, and Lena quickly checked under the thin blanket that covered her to see that her abdomen, too, had also been bandaged. Lena tried not to dwell too hard on the fact that a few HYDRA scientists had most likely seen her bare chest to get the bandages on, and instead chose to focus on the surroundings to her left.

 

Lena pivoted her head, looking over to the cot that rested less than a meter away from hers. There, a sleeping figure rested atop the same grey blanket that covered Lena’s body, uneasily shifting slightly every few seconds. Though she had only seen the man from a distance prior to this moment, she recognized him instantly from his short and unkempt hair, chiseled jaw line, and prosthetic limb.

 

The man with the metal arm.

 

Lena was surprised at his presence. Had he been taken for experimentation and injured in some type of testing as well? Since he was a member of the quarry detail, he would have to suffer through a multitude of things as punishment for the actions of the five men from his line of work- including experiments. A closer inspection of the man’s body revealed a bandaged torso much like her own, a majority of the gauze concentrated around his stomach. She worried that the scientists had fiddled around with his body, injecting and implanting foreign substances into his system like they had with her and countless others before her. No person in this camp deserved to be subjected to HYDRA’s methods.

 

She tore her eyes away from his muscled midsection, searching his body for any other signs of injury. Another strip of medical gauze was placed overtop the inside of his right elbow- perhaps where an IV had previously been, Lena figured- but other than that, there was nothing else but bruises and various abrasions, which were common among the Freiwelt population. The grueling work HYDRA made them carry out never was completed without a few contusions or scraped up knuckles.

 

Lena’s eyes travelled up to his face. A strand of his hair was stuck to his forehead, which, despite the cool temperature of the room, was sweating. His eyebrows were scrunched together in what appeared to her as frustration, his eyes themselves hidden away behind his eyelids in a presumably not-so-pleasant dream world. A phrase escaped his partially-parted, cracked lips, and she recognized it instantly as the voice that she heard earlier from within her cocoon.

 

The same notes of hopelessness had peaked through the low timbre of his voice, plucking at her heartstrings. Even through all of her time spent in the camps, where she had seen the most harrowing things imaginable, she had never heard agony such as this before. Everything in his sleeping posture screamed ‘loss’ over and over again.

 

He repeated the phrase again in the same heartbreaking way he had all those times before. The only difference this time was the unnatural jerk of his body and a string of moans that followed.

 

The grunts that exited his mouth made Lena unsure if he was okay or not. She had never encountered another prisoner before in Lager IV, but she was sure that she did not like to see them suffering if there was anything she could have done to alleviate it without harming anyone. The small twinge of worry that had originally budded in Lena blossomed once more at the thought that the man was dying. For all she knew, he  _ was _ ; no prisoner ever knew what HYDRA was pumping into their bodies (the food included).

 

Lena eased herself off of the bed, hesitatingly padding on her bare feet across the small meter that rested between them. He was still stirring restlessly in his sleep, and she noted how his breathing came out in laborious pants. She was unsure if it was because he was having a nightmare, or if it was because his body was undergoing a rejection process of whatever chemicals HYDRA injected into him, and that ratcheted up her nerves tenfold.

 

She was now hovering over him, uncertain of what she should do, the heat of his body rising up to her in waves. Should she rouse him, to make certain that he was okay? But what if he was just having a nightmare? Mama had always said that it was best to not wake people in the middle of their nightmares, that doing so would do more harm than good. But what if his body was already tearing itself apart, somehow rejecting one of HYDRA’s already-tested serums? Perhaps she should wake him to make sure...

 

Back and forth Lena went, teetering between her options. The longer she waited, the more violent the man’s thrashing about became. His head was twisting to and fro every few seconds, and the underlying muscles of his face morphed themselves into a pained expression. His mutterings became more frequent and urging, the most tortured that she had heard yet. Surely this was all justifiable enough to wake him.

 

Before she could talk herself out of it again, Lena stretched out her hand towards the man’s fleshy arm, lightly placing it on his warm forearm. She could feel how hard the muscle was beneath the pads of her fingers, how it flexed together to squeeze his hand into a tight fist. She frowned slightly, wondering just what had made his body tense unconsciously so. Perhaps what he was going through, whether it be from a nightmare conjured up by his own mind or the effects of a HYDRA serum, was worse than she originally thought.

 

She began to slowly stroke his arm, hoping to unkink the wound muscles. As she worked her way down, her fingers noted how smooth and sweat-glistened his skin was. Sadly, she wondered how long it would take before this skin of his ended up like hers; scarred and rough and patchy from months of labor and punishments before her days of experimentation with HYDRA. She wondered if he had ever been to another camp before Freiwelt; while many people were transfers from other Nazi concentration camps, Lena did know a few people who were first-timers in the camps. Such people included young Bianka, who had been captured and brought into Freiwelt from Turkey five months before Lena and Rebekah had even passed the looming gates of the experimentation camp. With such supple and smooth skin, Lena had her doubts as to whether or not the man had previous camp experience. 

 

Beneath her absentminded touch, the man stirred and grumbled, his breaths coming out in brief, ragged gasps. Mumbles of protest began to pour out of his mouth, slowly building up into a desperate and agonizing wail. Lena was amazed that he had not yet woken himself up with his delirious cries and thrashing about.

 

The next thing Lena knew, a metal hand was wrapped around her neck in a bone-crushing grip. Lena let out a tiny gasp, her eyes darting to the man’s face. His ocean-blue eyes wide were open and awake but there was a distracted, faraway look in them. He was both here and not here, seeing but unseeing- still trapped somewhere inside his head.

 

Too trapped to notice that Lena was slowly losing consciousness due to a lack of oxygen.

 

Lena panicked, quickly scanning her brain for a way out of the man’s grip. Lena’s first instinct was to jump, as she had so many times before in the past week or so. Her second instinct that popped up in her head a few seconds later was to slap herself for thinking of jumping as her first solution. To find herself relying so heavily on that part of herself that was also  _ not _ herself, rather than think out a solution, was sickening to her.

 

But she saw no other choice; the man’s grip, as well as his mutterings, had grown stronger, his hand clamping down on her throat so hard she thought it would break. Lena  _ had _ to teleport to escape this death grip.

 

A stomach-lurching thought latched on to Lena as her vision went slightly cloudy. She had never tried to jump before while touching someone. What would happen to this man? Would he travel with her to wherever she went? Would he be left behind, unable to tag along behind her? Would he be injured at all, if she did jump without him?

 

There was only one way to find out.

 

Lena urged her body to jump, thinking of transporting herself back to the safety of her cot. She prayed that after a little rest, she could make her body tap into her ability once more. Lena was unsure if she could do it or not, since she had never before experienced a time where she was unable to use her ability. She didn’t know if there was a certain amount of time that she needed to recover, or if it would even come back at all; maybe it would become “dormant” inside her body and just stay with her for the rest of her life, like a strange strain of strep throat.

 

But seconds later, she found herself perched on the edge of her cot across from the man who at the loss of contact jerked yet again, this time waking himself. A bewildered expression crossed his face as he took in his surroundings. This was not the place that he had remembered seeing just seconds before in his-

 

Dream.

 

It was all just a dream.

 

A slight feeling of relief flooded through his veins at the realization, quickly followed by a feeling of confusion. If not on a train like he was in his dream, where was he? 

 

The man noticed a slight movement to his right, his body tensing once more. His metal arm twitched slightly as he thought of the last time he had seen himself lying in a bed such as this; he had awoken to see his entire left arm gone, replaced with a monstrous, bionic arm- one that he then used to choke a curious scientist who kept poking at him. He was immediately ashamed of his actions, regretting hurting the man, right up until he had been injected by another scientist with something that knocked him right back out again. Though that had been a week or so ago, in a different place with slightly different people, he was prepared to see yet another scientist, ready to prod at him or his metal arm again. He was not, however, ready to see the frail figure that rested on the other bed beside him.

 

The first thing he noted was the bandages wrapped around a good length of the woman’s body, as well as the striped bottoms she wore that closely resembled his own. This told him that she was prisoner here, too- not a scientist sent out to fiddle with his arm. He relaxed the slightest at this knowledge, but still kept his guard up, as he examined the rest of her. 

 

She was all skin and bones, barely an inch of fat gracing her nearly see-through skin. She looked completely malnourished, her brown hair greasy and unevenly cropped- not doubt all thanks to the the hellish Nazi camps that he had worked so hard to fight against up until last week. The woman looked like a walking corpse, and a sense of passionate anger washed through him towards the organization that held him- them- captive.

 

But her eyes were perhaps the most alive thing he had seen, not only on her body, but in this entire camp. He could see a plethora of emotions flickering through her chocolate brown eyes: wariness and wonder, curiousness and fear. It wasn’t only until he noticed the way she rubbed at her neck, where slight purple bruises peeked out from her fingers, that he understood why she had that fearful look in her eye.

 

He had done that. He somehow attacked her during his dreams, latching onto this poor woman’s throat so hard that he had left bruises on her. A sense of guilt flooded his system as he straightened himself, and he swallowed at the sight of the damage he had done.

 

Lena, who could easily make out the emotions on the man’s face, moved to reassure him.  _ “Es ist in Ordnung. Sie wusste nicht, was Sie taten,” _ she said in German, her voice slightly hoarse from their encounter a few moments ago.  _ “Sie schliefen.” _

 

The man looked back at her in confusion. He understood the harsh, guttural sounding language to be German, but he couldn’t understand a word she had just spoken to him. He only knew English, his native language, and a few basic words in Russian he had overheard last week.

 

Lena picked up on the man’s confusion, quickly asking,  _ “Sprichst du Deutsch?” _ only to be answered with yet another confused glance.

 

_ “Mluvíte česky?” _ Lena tried in her native tongue.

 

No answer.

 

She hesitated before speaking again. “English?”

 

The man’s eyes flicked to her face, perking up the slightest bit at the mention of English.

 

_ So he speaks English _ , she thought, nodding slightly to herself. A strange sense of worry followed this realization. Lena only spoke German and Czech fluently, frequently switching between those languages depending on who she was speaking to throughout the camp. Her English and French were mediocre, with her knowledge of the French language mostly being the different maneuvers from her time spent in ballet classes when she was younger. She was much better at writing out the two languages than speaking them, and didn’t want to make a fool of herself in front of this stranger.

 

She swallowed before speaking again, hoping that she would not stumble over her words or confuse tenses. “My English… is not so good,” she said apologetically, her Czech accent clear to even her own ears. She shook her head again and grimaced, praying that her accent was not so thick that the man couldn’t understand a word she was saying. “But do not worry about throat,” she said, gesturing to her neck. “You were sleeping- did not know what you were doing.”

 

He stared at her, dumbfounded. Was this woman... forgiving him? He could have nearly killed her, yet here she was, approaching him like he had committed no wrong. “In my dream, I knew I was hurting someone,” he said quietly, his voice unlike anything that Lena had expected. It was hoarse and deep, and not accented in the proper English way that she had heard before. It was an odd accent, one that she had never heard before- perhaps American, if she had to guess. “I just didn’t know I was hurting you. I thought I was hurting one of…  _ them. _ ”

 

“Night terror?” She guessed, quirking her eyebrows slightly at the man. Lena dropped the hand that was at her throat, the bruises that had popped up fully bared. He winced slightly at the sight, the guilt at hurting an innocent bystander eating at his insides. 

 

“You could say that,” he replied shakily, leaning his head back against the bedframe and closing his eyes. His dream was so lucid, so clear, so… real. He closed his eyes and was thrown back into his head, a series of images assaulting him all at once: moments from him back in America before being shipped over to England, moments of him during training sessions, moments of him tumbling from the edge of a train…

 

Lena didn’t ask the man to elaborate on his dream. She didn’t want to pry, or force him to say anything he didn’t want to reveal willingly. She especially didn’t want to make him relive his nightmare, since it clearly bothered him so.

 

“Bad dreams common in Freiwelt,” she replied with a sigh after a few minutes of silence. “Staying in Freiwelt is much like living in bad dream.”

 

The man nodded at her words. He had been in a HYDRA camp twice before being brought to Freiwelt, and it was definitely no walk in the park staying at those locations. He couldn’t imagine how he would survive a third time.

 

“How long have you been here?” He questioned, opening his eyes to look at the woman to his right. He needed an escape from his thoughts, and striking up a conversation with this woman was just the way to do so.

 

“In camp, two months. In room, I do not know.” Lena’s eyebrows furrowed in concentration as she thought back on the night’s events. It was like walking through molasses, trying to go through her memories. “Last thing I remember was the knives.”

 

The man’s eye flickered down to the thick bandages adorning her body, and a sick feeling of horror flowed through him. They had  _ stabbed _ her, and repeatedly by the looks of it. What other sadistic things had she been exposed to throughout her two month period here? How many other tragedies, such as the massacre earlier this afternoon, had this camp seen?

 

“Where are the guards? The scientists?” He questioned, partially out of his want to change the subject and partially out of genuine curiosity.

 

Lena shrugged, pulled from her own thoughts at the sound of the stranger’s voice. “Perhaps all busy with another torture experiment.” She was only half-joking. “Cameras always watching, though. They’ll be back soon enough.” She cocked her head at the man, preparing to ask questions of her own. “You don’t sound like British Englishman. Where are you from?”

 

“Brooklyn, the greatest city in America,” a strange hint of pride peaking through his voice. “I can’t tell where you’re from, though. It’s clear you can speak multiple languages, but I can’t tell what your accent is. It sounds Slavic, to some extent.”

 

Lena’s lips twitched upwards in a sort of smile. “Czech is my first language. I was born in Brno, greatest city in Czechoslovakia,” she replied, mimicking the man’s previous answer. The man was surprised to see her using such a playful tone, given the place they were in and the circumstances there were under. It was nice to see it, though; ever since he joined the war effort, he had been faced with a darkness he never thought the world and its inhabitants could ever possess. Having a little bit of sunlight poke through the veil of shadows that now seemed to plague every part of his life now was nice, even if it was something as meager as hearing a stranger poke fun at him.

 

“You say you are American. You fighting in war, yes?” The man nodded in confirmation, making a frown appear on Lena’s face. The incoming information from him about his nationality and fighting for the Allies toyed with something at the back of her head. She couldn’t quite place her finger on what it was, though.

 

“Are you prisoner of war?” She questioned, thinking back to her conversation with Rebekah at breakfast. He was American, a loyalist to the Allies… it fit the criteria for being a POW. Lena thought that this realization was the cause for the itch at the back of her brain, but as soon as the words passed her lips, she knew that that was not it. It was something else, something that refused to reveal itself in her mind.

 

“You could say that.” the man answered slowly, tearing Lena from her thoughts. She watched as he debated his words. “I was found by a HYDRA officer at the bottom of a cliff after… an accident,” he answered, unconsciously touching the skin connecting his arm to his metal prosthetic. Lena’s eyes flickered to where his hand stroked his arm, and noted the scarring that had escaped her notice earlier. The skin was marred and red, not at all the signs of a properly healing wound, and her own struck shoulder began to ache from the sight of it. “They brought me to a base, healed me and gave me this arm. Then they put me on a train, and sent me here.” He shifted in his cot, careful not to jostle any of the injuries he had gotten from  _ his  _ experiment. “How did you get here? To Freiwelt?”

 

A sudden slam of the door in the corner silenced Lena. She peered over to where she heard the sound, spotting the familiar green HYDRA uniform. She flinched slightly at the sight, remembering the last time she encountered a man wearing that shade of green.

 

“Up,” the HYDRA officer ordered from the doorway, “the two of you. Breakfast begins in twenty minutes.”

 

“What is he saying?” The man looked at Lena confusedly. The officer that addressed them spoke in rapid German, and it was suffice to say that he had no clue what was being said to him. Usually, no one said things to him- they just  _ did _ things.

 

“He says that breakfast is soon, and that we are required to go.” So she hadn’t been resting long, then, just a few hours. Lena frowned slightly, not sure if she should feel relieved or concerned that HYDRA was releasing her so soon- especially with such terrible injuries. She was acutely aware of every part of her that had been deliberately sliced open less than eight hours ago.

 

“What of our clothing?” Lena asked the officer, the bewildered expression still stuck on the strange, American man’s face as she spoke back in the same foreign tongue as the officer. She was aware of the man’s gaze on her as she spoke, yet she kept her eyes trained on the officer in front of her.

 

The HYDRA man pointed to the edges of the beds, where both Lena’s and the man’s shirts rested at the foot of their respective cots. Lena’s was spattered with her blood, the holes from where the blades punctured the material still present as well. She sighed slightly, figuring she would have to sew the fabric back together during what little free time she had after dinner one of these days. Lena sneaked a quick peek at the man’s shirt to see what clues she could gather of his experiment, but his shirt appeared to be spotless and clean- or at least as much as the prisoner garb could be.

  
“Put on shirt,” Lena said in a firm yet not unkind way to the man. “Rest time is over.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Aaaaannd after five chapters, they finally speak!
> 
> Honestly, I was kinda disappointed with how this chapter turned out, so I deeply apologize for the overall shittiness that you had to suffer through, (and the length, too; this chapter alone was 7939 words and seventeen pages!) Like with the previous chapter, I didn't proofread much, so there may be a literal fuckton of incomprehensible sentences and underdeveloped scenes. I also personally thought the dialogue could've been much better, so comment below to let me know if you feel the same so I can try and plan ahead to generate some slightly-less-sucky dialogue scenes for the next chapter.
> 
> Special shoutout to the the one person who corrected my German in this and informed me that the camp name should be spelled 'Freiwelt,' not 'Freiwalt'. I'll be properly adjusting everything over the coming weeks. (I don't remember the user of the person who told me of my mistake, and it's nearly midnight now as I'm writing this note, so I'm much too tired to check. Kudos to that person, though, wherever you may be!)
> 
> I'm not quite sure when the next chapter will be up; with my crazy summer schedule (balancing AP summer homework with color guard leadership duties is HELL) it's hard to tell when I'll have time to update. Hopefully, it won't be too long from now- I've kept you all waiting for a while with just this update.
> 
> Thank you for reading this chapter! Leave comments, questions, love, hate, yada yada yada. Until next update!
> 
> -Taryn


	6. Reunion

Rebekah shuffled into the mess hall, her eyes half-lidded due to her lack of sleep from the night before- and the night before that, and the night before that.

 

She’d never had a good night’s worth of sleep ever since she first arrived in Freiwelt, and her sleeping patterns had only gotten worse when Lena was first taken for experimentation. But upon being reunited with her best friend yesterday, Rebekah had been looking forward to at least a mediocre improvement in her sleeping patterns- until that hope had been snatched away from her in an instant, when her friend had been taken back to Lager IV.

 

A majority of Rebekah’s time last night had been spent squirming around in her shared bunk worrying over Lena- the one person she had left in her life. Without Lena, she didn’t know how she could survive Freiwelt alone. If anything had happened to her…

 

Rebekah shook her head, trying to brush away the thought of anything bad happening to her friend. Instead, she focused on trying to move to her and Lena’s usual corner table without spilling her near overflowing cup of coffee.

 

She was so focused on not spilling her drink that she almost didn’t notice the person already seated at the table. “Oh!” She exclaimed, her coffee threatening to slosh over the edge. “You’ve returned!”

 

Lena looked up from her half-eaten ration of bread, offering her friend a slight smile. She and the metal-armed man- she hadn’t asked him his name earlier, and thought it to be the wrong time to ask with their escort so close beside them- had went their separate ways after making it to the mess hall, their conversation from the infirmary still lingering on both of their minds. Lena tried to keep an eye on him, somehow thinking that staring at him longer would alleviate the itch that tickled the back of her brain, but she eventually lost sight of him as more and more people began to pile into the shoebox-sized mess hall.

 

Rebekah sat in the seat across from Lena, her eyes taking in the sight of her best friend. Though Lena’s lips held a kind smile, it didn’t quite reach her eyes; her brown eyes, usually bright and attentive, were dulled and distracted. Her shirt was speckled with dried blood, with jagged rips down and across the fabric at odd intervals. “What happened to you?” She whispered in a hushed tone. “Did they hurt you?”

 

Lena diverted her gaze from Rebekah’s, instead choosing to stare at the black, murky substance they passed for coffee. “It was- it was just a test they did. I’ll heal.” Telling Rebekah of her second near death experience would do nothing but worry her.

 

Rebekah’s eyes tightened at Lena’s words, sensing the hidden message behind them and her friend’s uncomfortable posture: _I don’t want to talk about it._ While the two were the best of friends, she wouldn’t force Lena to tell her anything she did not want to share- especially when it came to something like Lager IV.

 

“I hid the necklace,” Rebekah remarked quietly, opting to change the subject. She ripped off a small piece of stale bread, lifting it to her lips and taking a bite. “No one will be able to find it.”

 

“Where is it?” Lena questioned, reverting back to her native Czech tongue. She felt relieved at the fact that she could now speak without second-guessing herself and her grammar.

 

“Someplace safe,” Rebekah answered back cryptically. “It’s best to leave it where it is for now, just as an extra precaution. The guards are going to be on high-alert for the next few days after…” She sighed, pursing her lips into grim line. “It’s just best to be cautious at this moment.”

 

“I understand.” And she truly did; after yesterday’s attempted breakout, security would be heightened in all sectors of the camp. It would be difficult to do anything without having a single guard or _blockalteste_ breathing down your neck. “Thank you for taking care of it. Did you happen to hide your note as well?”

 

Rebekah hesitated. “I disposed of it.”

 

“What? Why?” Lena asked, looking up from her tin of coffee. “I thought you were going to save it until we could both look at it together. Was there nothing of value in it?”

 

“No. Quite the opposite, in fact,” Rebekah said, bushy brows furrowed over troubled almond eyes. Her voice was notably softer when she next spoke. “It was just something that was better to have not been kept.”

 

Lena didn’t like the look of concern that colored her friend’s face. What was inside of that note that could’ve triggered such a response? “Well, let me hear it, then. What was it about?”

 

Rebekah sighed. “I’ll tell you later. There’s too much risk telling you here,” she added in a voice just barely above a whisper.

 

Lena nodded slightly, subtly taking in her surroundings. There was most definitely an increase in guards after yesterday’s incident; the usual three guards that made their presence known in the mess hall had multiplied nearly sevenfold, with each HYDRA agent posted within five feet of each other around the perimeter of the room. Lena noticed that there was a guard not even two feet away from her, who could’ve easily overheard part of their conversation had there been less chatter within the room.

 

The two friends ate their breakfast in a wary, yet comfortable silence, enjoying the fact that they could spend a second day in a row breaking fast with one another. They were both munching on their bread rations when they heard a familiar, girlish voice at the head of their table.

 

“Well, I was expecting more of a welcome back party, but I suppose that this is as good as anything.”

 

Lena snapped her head up at the voice, and looked directly onto the grinning, youthful face of Bianka Hanzi. Though the bags beneath the fifteen-year-old’s eyes had grown into a harsh shade of purple against her beige skin, the light behind her eyes had seemed to only brighten since the last time that Lena had seen her, and she couldn’t help the strong sense of relief that flooded through her veins. She was alive, and in every sense of the word.

 

“I suppose you’d like a going-away party the next time you get called out too,” Lena teased as she scooted to her left to make room for the petite Romani to sit down. Lena opened her arms to embrace the young girl the moment she settled into her seat, taking on the role of a big sister and assessing every minute detail of Bianka. “How are you feeling?” She asked gently as they pulled away.

 

“Healthier than ever,” Bianka said with a snort. “After being injected with 4 different strains of diseases, I’ve been reassured that I’m virtually immune to any and all of them. Don’t worry though, they reassured me that I’m not infectious.”

 

“I think we're going to have to kick you out of the bunk just to be safe,” Rebekah said after a sip of her coffee, joining in on the banter. “We just can’t risk getting six other girls sick.”

 

“Says the girl who threw up on the bed sheets and gave nearly everyone the stomach bug last month.”

 

Rebekah and Bianka began their light-hearted bickering, just as they always had. Watching their interactions gave Lena both a sense of longing and wistfulness, as she was reminded herself of her conversations with Giselle. Could it really have been two months since she’d last seen or spoken to her sister? The months had seemed like years at this point.

 

“So, how was your first experiment?” Bianka asked Lena as her and Bekah placed their playful banter on pause. “It looks like you had just about as much fun as I had during your twelve day stay at Hotel HYDRA,” she said, gesturing to Lena’s blood-speckled shirt. "I was beginning to think that you'd enjoyed Lager IV so much that you'd decided to never return to us."

 

Bianka’s question brought Lena out of her thoughts and back to the present. “Of course I did," she replied back dryly. "Staying at Lager IV is the equivalent to staying in the Queen of England's guesthouse. This mess," Lena said, tugging on her tattered shirt, "was from last night. They released me yesterday morning, but called me back after supper for additional testing.”

 

“Strange,” Bianka remarked around the food she had just shoved into her mouth. “Usually they’d give you some time to recover after that much testing. What bone has the dog dragged in?” She questioned, using the standard code phrase to ask of her powers.

 

Lena explained to the best of her abilities her powers, and just how she managed to discover them herself. She spared Bianka and Rebakah the gory details, telling them only the general parts of all that occurred to her in Lager IV over the past thirteen days- or at least, all that she could remember through the daze that she was living in throughout that time.

 

“So we have a girl who could grow extra body parts, a girl who can create a windstorm, and a girl who can move across space in the blink of an eye. Now all we need is a tent and a clown, and this could be the circus,” Bianka mused once Lena finished speaking.

 

“We may not have a clown, but we do have the Tin Man,” Rebekah said with a jerk of her head. Lena and Bianka turned their heads to follow Rebekah’s gaze, which rested on the man with the metal arm. He sat at a table with an assortment of other men, slightly away from the group and seemingly not paying attention to any of the conversations around him. Lena wondered if he could even understand any of what was being said, as she remembered their brief interaction in the infirmary this morning.

 

“Whoa. When did he get here?” Bianka inquired, turning back to Rebekah. "He's very handsome."

 

“He’s very _old_ for you," Rebekah choked out, eyes wide in shocked amusement at Bianka. She took a gulp of coffee before continuing. "He's one of the newcomers to Freiwelt. He came yesterday morning with around 200 other prisoners. He’s a part of the quarry detail, but he wasn’t one of the ones who was involved with the escape plot.”

 

“Wait. Escape plot? You’re telling me that there was an escape plot, _and_ a new arrival of prisoners all within the two days that I was gone?” Bianka huffed out a breath. “You two have got to do a better job of keeping me updated on what goes on when I’m not around,” she said with a disapproving shake of her head. “Continue.”

 

Lena turned back around in her seat and took over explaining for Bekah, starting her story from the moment the two entered the block for roll call last night, to the moment that the last shots were fired by the HYDRA agents. Bekah soaked in all the information, seeming shocked, yet not unfazed by the violence of the tale. Having stayed at Treblinka for three years prior to her arrival at Freiwelt and lived in the ghettos of Warsaw for most of her life before that, violence was no stranger to her.

 

“That explains the increase in guards,” Bianka said, eyeing one of the guards after Lena finished talking. “I hope those quarrymen know what they’ve gotten the rest of us into.”

 

“They did,” Lena said as a HYDRA officer announced the conclusion of breakfast. “The five who were killed… none of them were newcomers, which makes absolutely no sense.” She shook her head, standing from the table to head towards morning roll. “They would never have done something like that- at least without good reason.”

 

The trio stood from their table and started walking towards the exit, their conversation seeming to take a halt after Lena’s last words. Bianka had simply nodded at what she had said, while Rebekah seemed to mull over Lena’s words a little more than necessary.

 

“What are you thinking?” Lena half-whispered as the two of them settled in their spots in the roll call block. Bianka had given them a silent nod of goodbye as she settled into her own spot in the block, one row ahead of them and five people to Lena’s left.

 

“Just about what you said,” Rebekah replied with a shake of her head, “about the quarrymen. It’s nothing, though.”

 

Lena said nothing more on the topic, as roll commenced for the morning. She figured that Rebekah was still mourning their deaths, and was only being reminded of them, now that they stood right at the very spot that it had happened. Already, it had seemed like it had all happened months ago, rather than yesterday.

 

Lena stared at the blood-stained stage, not quite sure just how she was feeling. Being surrounded by violence for so long, she had grown rather desensitized to it all. It was just too easy for her to feel completely void of emotion after the fact.

 

That thought saddened Lena. Since when did HYDRA turn her into an unfeeling abomination? If Rebekah or Bianka had been one of the ones selected last night, would she have even cared?

 

Lena bit her lip to rid her mind of the idea. _That’s ridiculous_ , she reasoned with herself internally, _they are your closest friends. Of course you would care. Of course you would._

 

But part of her still held onto the ‘what-if,’ and onto the idea that she was slowly becoming something that she would despise: one of them.

 

One of HYDRA.

 

+

 

“More energy, Lena. You need to put more energy into it.”

 

“I don’t want to hit you too hard,” she panted out in reply.

 

“Don’t worry about me. Just hit as hard and as fast as you can.”

 

Lena sucked in a deep breath, trying to oxygenate her muscles as best she could. She swiped the sweat from her forehead and tried to ignore the slight pounding sensation she felt in her head from the morning’s physical activity.

 

After roll was taken that morning, it was announced that half the day would be spent in the training compound with General Baar for ‘instruction’ in hand-to-hand combat and defense. There was a distinct shift in the atmosphere among the prisoners at the sound of the announcement; what was already expected to be a hellish day had now turned _unbearably_ hellish. Training days did not happen frequently, but when they did, they were utter torture for everyone. No one had the strength to complete what was being asked of them, and any energy that they did exert during the session wouldn’t be anywhere close to satisfactory for the overseeing officers.

 

So, after nearly six hours of work, Lena and Rebekah, along with the rest of the camp, were herded into the large training gymnasium over in Lager II. While the gymnasium was a fairly large room, a room slightly larger than the mess hall, the circular stage that stood at the center of the room made it seem much smaller and much more cramped- especially when _all_ of the camp’s population was forced into one place together.

 

Once everyone was gathered, General Baar introduced their lesson for today: blocking and countering attacks. After a painfully skilled, thirty minute demonstration on one of his men, Baan divided the prisoners into partners and dismissed them to an assigned spot around the gym to practice the various counters they had just been shown. Lena, who had been paired up with a blonde-haired man named Solomon from Barrack 2, had been practicing the first counter for over twenty minutes now with little success or damage done to her partner.

 

“Perhaps it would be better if we switched?” Solomon suggested in his low timbre after a few more minutes. “You be on the defensive, while I take the offensive? I promise I’ll go easy on you.” He took in her bloodstained and tattered shirt, the light pallor of her face. “I’m assuming that you haven’t had the easiest of nights, prior to today.”

 

“You assume correctly,” Lena replied, inhaling deeply to catch her breath. Solomon didn’t have to ask what caused her to feel so enervated; he’d been in her shoes just a few weeks ago, being forced to participate in training just three hours after experimentation. He could only offer her his silent sympathy and a slight break from the harsh expectations demanded of them.

 

“Take a few minutes,” he said to Lena, waving a hand at her when she adjusted her stance to a defensive one. “None of the guards are pay attention to us right now anyways.”

 

“Thank you,” Lena sighed, relaxing from her stance. She leaned against a nearby wall, pressing her backside flesh against the cold stone, resting her outstretched hands on her knees. She could feel the languor seeping deep within her bones- an aching sensation that threatened to overtake her completely.

 

“While you could use some help in the strength department, you’re very agile,” she said to Solomon, trying to distract herself from her tiredness. “I guess that a good sign for the lab coats, then.”

 

“I guess so,” Lena half-heartedly agreed. “I’m afraid that I’m not living up to their expectations.” She paused for a moment as she examined her partner’s features, searching for something in his face that would be an indicator of his nationality. “Say, where are you from? I can’t place your accent.” While he spoke German perfectly fine, there was something foreign in the way that he pronounced his “ei’s” and “eu’s”.

 

“I was born and raised in France,” Solomon said. “I was brought here two years ago after… an incident involving another man and me.” He shifted uncomfortably in his place, the fabric of his work shirt moving slightly. What was hidden by the folds of his shirt just a few moments earlier was now revealed to Lena- a small, pink triangle in the same place where her Star of David was positioned.

 

“Oh.” She could now see why he was so uncomfortable sharing this information with her. Lena’s eyes moved from the tiny symbol on his shirt to look at his young face; he couldn't have been much older than Lena was. “Well. I’m sorry that you’re here for something as trivial as that,” she said genuinely.

 

Solomon, who had been somewhat averting his gaze from Lena, now looked at her. “As I feel for you,” Solomon replied, gesturing to the stitched Star of David on her bloodstained shirt.

 

The two shared a grimace together, happy to have a person who, although here for different reasons, understood and accepted them. Solomon’s eyes flickered to his right as he spotted a HYDRA guard observing the progress of the partnered groups. “Perhaps we should get back to work before we we get punished,”

 

“Just go easy with your hits; sometimes, even the lightest of touches can leave a bruise on my skin.” Lena pushed herself from off of the wall, stretching her arms as she positioned herself into a defensive stance.

 

“I’ll try my best. The lab coats did an impressive job increasing my strength. The first day that I returned from Lager IV, I reached for my coffee tin and crushed it like a toy. Don’t worry though,” he said with a slight, reassuring chuckle as he took in Lena’s expression, “that was beyond months ago. I’ve gained more control over my strength- I won’t crush you.”

 

The two continued with their striking and blocking technique- Solomon on the offensive, Lena on the defensive. The pair were interlocked in a friendly dance with one another, not hitting nor deflecting their partner harshly. For forty-five minutes, the two practiced the skills they were shown, asking questions of each other’s lives before Freiwelt. Lena was just about to ask more of Solomon’s family when Baar’s loud voice echoed across the gymnasium.

 

“Gather around the stage, you dogs,” he announced. “Playtime is over.”

 

Lena and Solomon walked toward the center, the both of their chests heaving. Both had put each other through quite a workout, as Solomon’s strength tested Lena’s agility to dodge and defend, while Lena’s speed tested Solomon’s control and endurance. Despite how tired the two of them were, they were quite happy that they were assigned to be one another’s partner.

 

When everyone in the camp was gathered around the stage, Baar took a good look around at the group in front of him. He seemed to be searching for something, looking deep within each set of eyes in the hopes of finding it. The sweat on Lena’s skin nearly froze when she felt Baar’s calculating eyes scan over hers.

 

“It’s time to put what you have learned to the test,” Baar said to the prisoners in front of him. It was utterly silent as he continued on, the prisoners awaiting further instructions from the General. “The _kapos und blockaltestes_ of each barrack will select volunteers to represent their them in combat. The winner of the combat will receive an extra portion of soup and bread at dinner tonight for their satisfactory performance.”

 

A general wave of shock went through the prisoners at his words. Extra rations? That was nearly unheard of in any camp. It was almost enough to motivate anyone to battle their fellow prisoner.

 

Almost.

 

 _“Genug,”_ Baar said, silencing the murmurs that flew around the room after his announcement. The _kapos_ _und blockaltestes_ will make their nominations momentarily.”

 

Lena and Solomon could only look at each other with raised brows as they waited to hear the numbers of the poor chaps that would be forced to fight. A rather unsettling tension filled the air surrounding the prisoners, and glances between friends and strangers alike spoke of every fear and worry that couldn’t be said in that moment.

 

After a few more moments in uncomfortable silence, the _kapo und blockalteste_ from barrack one both climbed up onto the stage. “We nominate 1-131, and 5-351,” the _blockalteste_ announced in a gruff voice.

 

Lena tried to recalled if she knew who those two numbers were assigned to. No names were coming to the forefront of her memory though, and it wasn’t until the two women stepped onto the fighting platform that she could recall them.

 

“That’s Anne and Miriam. They’re a few years younger than me,” Lena said to Solomon as the two petite girls shuffled around before them, both girls a mirror image of the other. “They’re twin sisters.”

 

Solomon shook his head. “Disgraceful. They’re pitting blood against blood.”

 

“It probably wouldn’t be the first time.”

 

Solomon said nothing in reply as Baar announced the instructions and rules for the dueling siblings. “As mentioned earlier, the last one standing will be awarded second rations. All styles or types of combat are allowed. Usage of any powers is strictly forbidden. Any questions?” Baar eyed the two girls in an uninterested fashion, sounding bored to the core. When neither one spoke, he stepped to the background, shouting, “Begin!”

 

It was a sad sight to behold. It was apparent that neither sister wanted to harm the other, as many of the hits and punches were to non-essential parts of each woman’s body, but the intensity behind their swings was apparent. Both of the women were also fearing what punishment awaited them if they made it seem like they _didn’t_ put effort into their fight.

 

The fight only came to an end after one of the sisters, Miriam, landed a hard kick to the back of her sister’s head. Anne dropped to the floor, just a mere two feet away from Lena, who had looked away from the stage to avoid looking at the heartbroken expression of Miriam, who didn’t expect the kick to land where it had.

 

“And we have a winner!” Baar announced enthusiastically, stepping over Anne’s unconscious form to reach Miriam. “A job well done, my child,” he congratulated Miriam, touching her shoulder and ignoring the way she flinched back from his touch. “Extra servings will be given to you tonight.”

 

Miriam just stiffly nodded, and began to make her way off of the platform. Lena watched as she kept her back to the stage, not bearing to look at her sister who was being carried off the stage in the direction of the infirmary.

 

In Miriam’s place, the _kapo und blockalteste_ from barrack two stepped up to the stage. “Subjects 2-102 and 2-478,” the _blockalteste_ announced, _“hier.”_

 

Lena looked up in surprise as she felt Solomon shift beside her and start off in the direction of the stage. She glanced down at his left arm, and caught a glimpse of the number that was inscribed on his skin in the very same place that hers was: 2-478. She caught his eye as he made his ascension to the stage, and offered him a glance of what she hoped would come off as encouragement. Solomon could only grimace in return as he readied himself for a battle that he had never signed up for.

 

His opponent was another of his bunkmates, Klaus, to whom he had never spoken more than twice. He locked eyes with his smaller prison mate, who stood a good head beneath his own figure, and hoped that there was a sincere apology etched deep within his eyes. He didn’t want to hurt his bunkmate anymore than the next person.

 

Baar signaled the start of the fight after another brief explanation of the expectations, and, unlike the girls, began battling right away. In fact, it was Klaus who went for the first strike, much to everyone’s surprise. He aimed a right hook at Solomon’s face, which Solomon easily deflected. Solomon didn’t make a move in retaliation against the man, who to him, looked more like a boy than anything else. His short stature, rounded cheeks, and thin frame made him look as if he were no more than sixteen years old, if Lena had to guess.

 

Klaus didn’t hesitate to move in again, this time deciding to try and take Solomon out by his legs. Unfortunately, he gave away his next move to Solomon, who swiftly dodged out of the way just as Klaus dove to the ground to tackle him. Klaus just smoothly rolled back up into a crouch, determined to find another way to take down the opponent before him.

 

For the next few minutes, the fight followed the same pattern, where Klaus would attempt to strike and Solomon would evade. Lena could see that Solomon was hesitating from making a move, just as she had done with him earlier in the training session, and she felt a pang of sympathy as she remembered how he mentioned that he sometimes couldn’t control the strength of his hits. He must’ve been scared out of his wits that he would accidentally seriously harm the man as Miriam did with her sister.

 

The fight eventually came to an end when Solomon reached the decision to put the smaller man into a chokehold. Klaus put up a heavy struggle, fighting against the vice-like grip of Solomon’s arms, but ultimately failing. His wriggling eventually died down to slight twitches, then virtual immobility, as his oxygen supply quickly depleted. Solomon released his grip as soon as he felt the young man’s body slump fully against his body.

 

Lena saw the look of regret on Solomon’s face as he glumly made his way back to where she stood. “He’ll be okay, Solomon.”

 

Solomon nodded faintly, not really listening to Lena. He was much too busy tuning into his guilt that was chastising him in his head. How could he have done what he just did?

 

Lena could tell from the look on Solomon’s face that it would be better to leave him be with his emotions for now rather than try to console him. She understood why he was upset, but she also didn’t think that he should blame himself for his actions. He had been forced to take a position in a situation he did not sign up for, and he had chosen himself over Klaus. Survival, in a place such as Freiwelt, was not selfish.

 

The _kapo_ _und blockalteste_ from Lena’s barrack were next onto the stage. Beatrice confidently announced to the gymnasium the decision made between her and the _blockalteste_ , Juliana. “3-194 will challenge 3-101,” she said with a slight smirk. “Myself.”

 

Lena’s eyes nearly popped out of her sockets as she realized who had just been called to the platform:

 

Rebekah.

 

While Beatrice hated nearly everyone in their barrack, she despised Rebekah the most, and everyone knew it. Lena had the paranoid thought that it was because she was in on her friend’s... _activities_ within the warehouse when sorting through clothes, but she would have had Rebekah disposed of long ago were that the case. Perhaps it was the way that Rebekah managed to hold herself together; Rebekah was arguably one of the most mentally strong women out of everyone out of their barrack, and would not easily succumb to Beatrice’s will. Lena could easily recount the times that Rebekah had defied, even if just _slightly_ \- she would’ve acted all out, were it not for the sake of her fellow prisoners- from Beatrice’s barrack-wide demands, just because she did not feel like being ordered around.

 

But no matter how many times that Rebekah may have stood up to Beatrice in her little, barely seen ways, she couldn’t stand to have her stand up to their _blockalteste_ in this manner. She would be crushed; Beatrice’s physical health was much better than Rebekah’s, who looked like a living corpse, and she didn’t want to think about all the ways that Beatrice could beat her best friend into a pummel.

 

Without a second thought, Lena stepped forward towards the platform, a noise of protest forming behind her mouth. Solomon reached out his hand to prevent her from moving any closer, and Lena almost complied with his silent warning, were it not for Rebekah stepping onto the stage at that very moment, chin held high with clenched fists.

 

“Let me take her place,” she quietly said, her voice little more than a whisper. Only Solomon had heard her mumbled phrase, and he turned to look at her with an “are you serious?” look. Lena took no notice, her entire attention devoted to her friend as she saw her take her final steps onto the stage.

 

“Let me take her place!” She shouted this time, gaining the attention of a few other surrounding prisoners who just looked back at her pityingly. She hadn’t gained the attention of Beatrice or Rebekah though, as they both locked eyes with one another. General Baar stepped up to the center of the stage, readying himself to explain the rules once more.

 

Lena pushed past Solomon’s outstretched arm, bounding towards the stage. “Let me take her place!” She yelled, this time speaking the loudest out of all of her previous attempts. All three heads on the stage whipped around to see who had shouted. Rebekah’s eyes widened in slight shock and horror as she looked down at her friend before her, slightly shaking her head. What on Earth was Lena thinking? This wasn’t something that she could just volunteer herself for, especially when she had been chosen by a _blockalteste._ Lena was probably dealing them _both_ more pain for trying to prevent the fight from happening than if Rebekah had just continued on with it.

 

Lena ignored the shake of her friend’s head and the warning hidden within her sea blue eyes. She had General Baar’s attention, and voiced her request once more. “Let me take her place, General.”

 

“The decision has already been made by your _kapo und blockalteste_ ,” he responded, sounding offended at Lena’s proposal. “Step away from the stage, _koter_ , before I forcefully remove you.”

 

Beatrice cocked her head at the sight of prisoner 3-193 in front of her, a pensive look on her face. “Sir, let her take her place,” she said. “It would not bother me in the least.”

 

General Baar gave Beatrice a look, but did not question it. “Very well,” he complied after a few beats of silence, “as you wish. Off with you, 3-194,” he said with a wave of dismissal to Rebekah.

 

The blonde let out a slight gasp of disbelief, looking from Lena to Beatrice. “Don’t let her do this,” she said frantically, turning to the General. “With everything I have, I beg you-”

 

“You heard the General.” Beatrice cut her off coldly, already flexing her fingers to ready herself for what was to come. “Off with you.”

 

Rebekah closed her mouth, expression sobering. She spun on her heel, racing down the stairs to where Lena stood at the foot of the stage. “What are you doing?” She hissed at her brunette friend hurriedly. “She’s only agreeing to your offer to get to me. It’s not too late for you to back down-”

 

“It is too late,” Lena argued back. “Of all the things that you’ve done to try and preserve parts of other people’s lives, let me return that favor to you just this once. I can’t and won't see you harmed.”

 

Rebekah opened her mouth to make a refute, but Lena would hear no more. She stepped around her friend towards the stairs, forcing herself to not look back, knowing that she would hear an earful from her friend later on in the night.

 

Lena tried- unsuccessfully- to block out the hundreds of pairs of eyes that gazed up at her in confusion and amazement. It was an odd feeling to be up above on the stage where everything that she did could be scrutinized- that everyone could see her, but she could not necessarily see them.

 

Especially when she had all of her focus on the hulking woman before her.

 

The fear that Lena originally harbored for Rebekah’s well-being now shifted to her own, and for a fleeting moment, she almost wished that she hadn’t volunteered herself. She almost wished that she was back on the floor, safe from harm, standing silently by Solomon’s side.

 

Almost.

 

The rethinking of her actions was interrupted with the gruff voice of General Baar sounding from her right, repeating the same spiel as before. “All styles or types of combat are allowed. Usage of any powers is strictly forbidden. Any questions?”

 

Neither woman spoke, each instead choosing to look at their opponent- Beatrice looking with a cool facade of confidence and a glint in her eye, and Lena with what she hoped looked like calculating wariness and calmness. She knew what part she had signed up for- now she just had to act like it.

 

Act strong.

 

Act brave.

 

Act like a heroine.

 

“Begin!” Baar shouted, signalling the women to take their stances.

 

But Lena knew that no act could save her from what was to come.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I am THE WORST for abandoning this fic for so long! It's been over a year and a half since I've last updated this, but I PROMISE that I'm going to make regular monthly updates and FINISH THIS STORY.
> 
> Thanks for reading this far, especially this chapter; I know it wasn't the most interesting to read, but I promise that it will get better, along with my motivation to properly check for my grammar and spelling.
> 
> Leave comments or critiques, I promise I'll read and respond to them all!
> 
> (Wow, I made a lot of promises in this chapter note. Y'all gotta hold it to me to fulfill 'em.)
> 
> -T

**Author's Note:**

> Please leave critique or suggestions, for it'll inspire me and motivate me to write more! If you have any questions or comments or concerns, please don’t be shy to leave a comment or message me on my Tumblr. (URL: anaglyphics.tumblr.com)


End file.
